A Secret Society

A Secret Society

“So it is Thursday night again, the night of Thor”.

George then did his often exhibited imitation of the Nordic god, acting like the mop that he just picked up with his right hand was a bolt of lightning.

Tina laughed lightly as she did every Thursday night when he said and did pretty much the same routine

Then Tina replied, “So you and the boys will be going out to the pub tonight as usual, then?”

He smiled as she was yet again allowing him to have fun with his friends, not complaining like he suspected that some of the other guys’ wives might be doing. His Tina was good to him.

           “I don’t know what you guys do, but you certainly seem to enjoy it. It must be a guy thing.”

           “It’s not much, we drink some, we joke some, talk about sports a lot, and we make fun of some of the other people there, those we don’t know, particularly the young ones.  It’s all good harmless fun.”

           There was a pause in the conversation. George was thinking about asking his wife what she did on these nights, but then thought that that could be construed as telling her that she didn’t have much of a life, so he kept his question to himself.

           Tina seemed to be anticipating the question he did not ask, as she said, “I think I will go over to Liz’s place again. She has a new granddaughter now, and I know that she will want to show me many pictures and tell me some stories of their antics together.”

           George shook his head slightly, but not noticeably, thinking that few things would be more boring to him. But as an old married man, he knew that there was no way that he would say anything about it. Neither would he say, ‘that should be fun.’ Insincerity was not part of their relationship. 

Night Approached

Night approached. George changed out of his suit, dress shirt and tie from work and puts on more casual clothing, something more suitable to the pub, more in line with what the other ‘boys’ were wearing. When he came out of the bedroom, he noticed that Tina had made a change in clothing too. She was wearing a shirt with the letters P.G. large upon the front of it. He couldn’t remember ever seeing her wearing the shirt before.

He didn’t usually ask Tina about her clothing, because he didn’t want to be seen as criticizing her choices in apparel. But he had to ask a question.

           “What do the letters P.G. stand for?” That seemed to George like a harmless enough question.

           Tina laughed to herself almost invisibly as she heard the question, then replied “Pretty Good…, Pretty good wife. Pretty good mother. Pretty good woman.”

           “I couldn’t agree more,” said George in reply. He thought about how she had done a remarkable job with their two daughters, the twins Lane and Linda. Both of them were going to university to study accounting, just like their mother had. He was proud of the fact that his wife was a ‘pretty good’ role model for the girls.

           George kissed Tina just before going out the door. He started walking to the pub, which was a little over two and a half miles away.  He had measured it with his step counter watch. He didn’t have to worry about drinking and driving when he walked to the pub, and he scored some significant steps in his exercise program. He and the boys would sometimes drink a lot as they engaged in their regular pub behaviour, but he was good at focussing on looking like he was walking sober once he returned home.

           About halfway through his walk to the pub he passed Liz’s place. Darkness was falling, but it didn’t seem like any of the lights were on. Maybe Liz was out shopping for the supper she would share with Tina. To each her own. As long as Tina was happy. He would be enjoying the pub snacks that were an escape from his health food diet, carefully monitored by both he and his wife.

           Finally, he arrived at the pub, The Jolly Friar, and saw most of the guys at their regular Thursday night table. Although some of the boys had grandchildren, he was reasonably sure that none of them would be showing pictures of them – stories perhaps. Liz’s husband was one of the usual suspects at the pub, and George was pretty sure he wouldn’t be bringing granddaughter pictures to show the others.

Tina Goes to Liz’s

           Tina left home about 20 minutes after George did. She had added a few extra items to her clothing, including her shoes with the high heels. She was looking forward to the night she had in store for herself. She called Liz to inform her when she was going to arrive.

           As she approached Liz’s place, she, like her husband before her, noticed that the place was dark. None of the lights were on in the house. But unlike George, she knew the reason why. She walked up to the front door, and knocked sharply on it. Instead of just waiting for Liz to come to the door, she shouted out a strange question. “What do the initials P. G. stand for?”

           The lights went on. Music was turned on, and the reply came loud and clear from a group of female voices. “It stands for Poker Girls.” The door swung open and Tina was greeted by all five other Poker Girls. All of them wore t-shirts identical to hers.  She was the last to arrive, as usual. And they had been waiting for her, knowing when she would arrive. The big table was all decked out with a tablecloth that had dollar signs painted on it. The deck of cards and the poker chips were there ready for the action. The games were about to begin. And none of their husbands knew about the Poker Girls, all of them were at that moment at the pub drinking and commenting with George. This was a secret society of women that had existed for months now without their husbands suspecting a thing. The Pub Boys just didn’t realize that Poker Girls just want to have fun..