The women in Jenny's house were at the dining room table with cards dealt out before them and wine glasses at their sides. Terry Carter, six months along, was drinking filtered tap water, of course. Jenny and Terry were partners playing against the team of Patty and Emily. Only Jenny and Emily actually knew the rules of pinochle, but Terry knew bridge and Patty knew several other games, so it wasn't hard for them all to get up to speed.
It was their third hand, and the team of Peterson and Carter was without stockings and blouses. Jenny didn't mind, of course, since the object was to lose eventually, but the card player in her wished that Terry was better at this.
"I wish I had ever had the nerve to prance around in my front window," Jenny said, laughing. "Never did, though. It must be liberating."
"Well, it turns me on, anyway," Patty said, concentrating on a hand overloaded with trump cards. "And Charles, too, especially now that there's so much going on around here."
"You talk about this? Did you told him about us?" Emily said, trying to follow her partner's lead. "He knows?"
"Of course, silly. Why wouldn't I tell him?"
"I, well, sure, why not? Did you tell him we were watching you fuck the other night?"
"No, I haven't told him that yet," Patty admitted, slapping down the final card to take all of the tricks of that hand. "Okay, ladies, strip!"
Jenny and Terry stood, Jenny doing a shimming little dance, and they removed their slacks. "Beginner's luck," Jenny said.
"Oh, what pretty underwear," Patty said, admiring the floral pants just covering Terry's swollen crotch.
"Thanks, I . . ."
The doorbell rang, and everyone froze a moment before Jenny struggled back into her slacks and ran to the door pulling her blouse back on. "It's Tania Mosswell," she said back to them after a quick glance through the peep-hole. She opened the door.
"Tania, hi!" she said, all smiles but not quite moving to admit the other woman. "What brings you around?"
"I was going to ask to borrow something," Tania said, tersely but smiling. "But that would be transparent and stupid. What I really wanted to know was if you were having a party over here."
"Party? Oh, no, we're just playing cards."
"Cards? Oh." Tania frowned, noticing that Jenny hadn't invited her in. In fact, it seemed as though Jenny was purposely blocking the door. "I play cards."
"I didn't know that," Jenny said. "It's just that, well, we . . ."
"If you don't want me in, just say so," Tania said then, her temper about to burst. "Jesus, Jenny, I'm not going to cry."
Noting the anger in the other woman's voice, Jenny suddenly realized how this might look to her, and she put one hand to her mouth as she said, "Oh, no, I guess I didn't think of how it might look. Come right in." She backed away and led Tania into her home.
"It's pinochle. It takes four," she said lamely as she took her into the dining room where Terry had put her clothing on as well. "Would you like some wine?"
"No, I don't really want to intrude," Tania said, her lips tight and eyes glaring. "But even if only four can play, I can't help but think you might have asked if I knew the game."
"Do you know it?" Jenny said, with a laugh. "My partner's horrible." The other women laughed nervously.
"Yes, I do," Tania replied. "Well, I guess I'll get back home." She turned and strode toward the door, leaving four women looking alarmed and embarrassed behind her.
It was Patty that put things right. "Hey, Tania," she called out, following her to the door. "Do you think we're a bunch of racist assholes?" There, the subject was in the open now.
"Not yet, but I sure don't know what to think," Tania said, turning.
"We're not. We just don't know you too well yet. We don't know what you like, and such. What turns you on."
"You get to know all of that by talking, lady, and this neighborhood isn't much on that, is it?"
"No, I guess not. Come back and sit," Jenny said, taking Tania's arm and leading her back. "Here, sit by me, and we can talk while we play."
Terry and Emily looked at Jenny nervously, but Patty smiled. It would be better for Tania to think they're all perverts than racists. The first might be embarrassing, but the second was cruel.
"We're playing a special kind of pinochle." Jenny handed her a glass of wine and took her seat. "It's kind of, well, odd. Embarrassing, too."
"How can card playing be embarrassing?" What was wrong with these women? Were they really scared to be caught playing cards?
"It's strip pinochle," Patty said. "And my team is winning."
"Strip pinochle?" Tania was dumbfounded. What on earth was that?
"It's our first game together," Jenny said. "Until recently, I didn't know there was anyone else in the neighborhood who liked to play, you know, games. Suddenly, I've got these lovely new friends."
"And my husband, too," Terry put in, wanting to get everything out. "And Daryl, too."
"But this is just ladies night," Jenny said. "Like Patty said, we don't know what turns you on, and we just didn't want you to think badly of us."
"Why would I think badly of you?"
"You teach Women's Studies, right?" Patty said. "Sex games are a little sexist, after all."
"They might be seen as demeaning to women," Emily said then. "But I've found these new activities rather empowering."
"So it isn't because I'm black?"
"Goodness no," Jenny said, beginning to unbutton her blouse. "It's because we didn't know if you were interest in fooling around."
"We'd have figured out a way to ask you eventually," Patty put in. "You and your husband."
Tania laughed and sipped at her wine as she let herself relax. "So you aren't racist, you're sexist," she said. "Well, that's much better. And, actually, Women's Studies isn't a field concerned with blaming men for everything and pretending that sex isn't fun. It's about empowerment. A woman has the right to get her kicks any way she wants too. She can get down with the sisters or screw a room full of men if she wants. Just as long as it is her choice."
"Okay, then," Jenny said, throwing her blouse aside and standing to step out of her pants again. "We'll play and chat at the same time. You can certainly join us if you want to, but I don't know how to work a fifth player into the game."
"No, I don't . . ." Don't what? While Tania had never been with a woman in the biblical sense, she had experienced a couple hard core vibrator sessions with her roommate back in college. "Well, I'll just watch for now."
"I love putting on a show," Patty said, grinning.
#
"Come on." Danny Porter stood in the doorway of his sister's room, their camera in hand. "Let's go see what the neighbors are up to," he said.
"Where's dad?" Elaine was comfortable where she was.
"Watching TV. Come on."
"Mom's pissed at me," Elaine said, standing. "I know that she saw me."
"So she's pissed," Danny said. "Can't do much about it, unless you want to ask her about it."
Elaine smiled, her freckled face glowing with mirth. "Hey, Mom, are you mad at me for watching you and Dad fuck? Boy, that's a good plan."
"Let's go."
They stopped by the living room to tell their father they were going out and then went into the night, just after sunset, to see what more they could find out about the neighbors.