The Story of the Delancey Brothers

Chapter 4

-Mary POV 1889-

"Aha! I beat ya again!" said seven year old Mary to her twin brother Morris. They were playing a game that their older brother Oscar taught them called Sticks. To play, you started with one finger held up on each hand and tapped each other's hands to raise the number of fingers on their hand. You won by maxing out the fingers on the other person's hands. Mary was amazing at the game, but Morris, however, was quite awful at it.

"Yer too good at this! Are ya cheatin' somehow?" asked Morris in disbelief.

"Naw, yer just bad at math."

Morris rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything. He knew it was true. "Let's play again. Maybe I'll win this time."

"I doubt it," Mary snickered.

"Why don't ya play with me?" Oscar asked Morris.

"Yeah," Mary said. "That way maybe you'll see that I'm not cheatin', an' yer jus bad."

"Yer gonna be the one seein' once I win this game."

"Whateva ya say."

After Morris plays with Oscar

"What did I say," Mary said matter-of-factly. "I wasn't cheatin', you'se just bad at this game!"

Morris had lost.

"Best out of three?" Morris asked Oscar meekly.

"Not right now. I gotta go practice fi-... er, I mean practice for a test for school with Pop," Oscar stuttered.

"Don't ya study for a test, not practice?" Mary asked.

"Yeah, the word jus' slipped my mind."

"School can do that ta ya," Morris said. "They try ta teach ya stuff, but ya jus' end up forgettin' it."

"Sure. I gotta go now. More Sticks later, Morris?" Oscar asked quickly.

"You bet! Now go study with Pop"

Mary didn't know why her twin emphasized the word study, but she quickly brushed it off. "Wanna play me again, Morris?" she asked.

"No way!"