Hey Dad - Let's Play Cards!

The month of June is a busy one in the Ronald family. There are graduations, birthdays, and of course Father's Day to look forward to.

Dennis Ronald and his wife, Alice, had five sons. Donald Ronald was due for a birthday bash around June 10 and Mr. ILLY was to be there at the bash to bonk Donald on the head! Mr. ILLY was trying to decide what to do to make Donald look like a kid again!

Well, June 10th arrived and Mr. ILLY was all set with celebrating Donald's birthday. He was not telling anyone, though, as it was a big surprise.

Dennis and his family loved to play card games such as rummy, canasta, and of course poker for the fun of it. There were other card games they played with the young kids as well.

Now not many people knew how old Donald Ronald was going to be so Mr. ILLY had come up with a splendid way to announce his age. This celebration was to be a combination Donald birthday and Father's Day for Dennis.

The focus was first of Dennis as he opened all the gifts from the family and being the father he was indeed happy with the attention. He and Alice had done a great job with their sons and the boys all knew it.

After the gift opening by Dennis the atmosphere changed to Donald as he was to turn, oh, let's see!

Knowing the family, especially the men, loved playing card games, Mr. ILLY made the announcement that everyone should gather for a game of gin rummy. Not everyone was in the mood to play cards but Donald and Dennis were along with Mr. ILLY and one of Donald's brothers.

The four men sat down and Mr. ILLY handed over the cards to begin playing after shuffling them. Not known to the others, Mr. ILLY had taken out the two jokers from the set of cards. He knew what he was doing!

The game progressed and it had been a while that they had been playing without the jokers when Dennis exclaimed "Hey, where are the two jokers?" "I have not seen them at all!"

Mr. ILLY tried to hide his poker face but was not able to as he burst out laughing and said, "I been wondering when someone would notice!" "Don't you guys get it?"

"Today is Donald's born day and his age is in these cards!"

"Huh," Dennis said, "How so?"

Mr. ILLY said with a laugh, "Just count the cards or tell me how many cards are in a deck without the jokers."

Dennis smiled and said without blinking "Fifty!"

"Correct!" Mr. ILLY said with another laugh!
"Donald here is a wise old owl at 50 whiich means he is a deck of playing cards without the jokers!"

Everyone burst out laughing and Donald was sitting there speechless!

Happy Born Day Donald Ronald!

Written by:
Mr. ILLY, the DeafBlind Clown
May 31, 2010