The Deck of Cards

Janine turned her head. “I don’t believe it!! Mr Know-it-all!” Mum turned round as well. “Oh Chris, you are home early today!” “Yeah, I am really tired. I just want a cup of tea….and maybe a tiny bit of information on why Miss Jet-set is here!” He sat down on the edge of the kitchen table and searched Janine’s face. Jan bit her teeth angrily and remained silent. “This is Judy’s friend; she is staying with Judy…for a while!” She stroked Janine’s cheek and decided not to rise to Christopher’s impoliteness. “Ah!” Chris kept looking at the young woman. “I do hope that you do not intend to disturb Judy’s studies. She is a great character and very gifted…she does not fit into your circles!” “Christopher Oakland. That is enough now!! What on earth makes you attack this girl in such a disgraceful manner?” Mum pushed him off the table. “I always say what I think. No one should impose herself on others in order to blow away the dark clouds gathering over one’s paradise!” He turned away and put the kettle on. Janine swallowed the tears of fury down that started to well in her eyes. She carefully considered her words. Then she finally got up and walked across to Christopher. “OK Mr Oakland. We all know that you think you have spooned wisdom, that you know everything, are without fault and consider yourself the social conscience of society. I am not quite sure why you have chosen to despise me so much, but I want to tell you one thing nonetheless: from today on I shall be living under this roof, too. We can fight like cat and dog…or we can at least obey the simplest rules of civilised behaviour in human society!” Christopher turned round. He saw the shadow in her eyes, felt her anger, her despair and resolution. He asked himself, why this particular woman annoyed and irritated him so much, why her sheer presence made him want to be contrary. “I am waiting!” Now Janine looked right into his eyes. She was determined to stand her ground, to not blink, but to continue to stare back. This snob, this self-righteous man would never ever again talk to her in such a foul manner. She would make sure of that. She really had enough of men who wanted to tell her what to do! “I don’t think the red Indians would agree that civilisation is the key to happiness!” Christopher turned away again and poured water over his tea. “You obviously struggle to give a straightforward answer. But then again, that is a well-known phenomenon that people who really have nothing to say hide themselves behind big words and great phrases; they like to use their education as a shield to protect them from the real world that they cannot handle. The true wise man does not need to show off his wisdom every minute!” With that Janine turned round and walked to the door. Judy and Mum were standing there looking at each other with a big question mark in their eyes. None of them had ever seen those two act like that, like two fighting cocks in a ring. “Ciao Mum, see you later. And once again thanks for everything!” With that Janine pulled Judy away with her. Christopher slowly turned round. He did what even Mum hardly ever saw him do: he grinned. This woman seemed to promise much more than you would think at first aspect. She was not easily scared off, and she certainly knew how to talk – he liked that! “May I wish you a wonderful good morning, Miss Grant, Miss von Hohenfels!” Judy could hardly believe her senses, when she opened the door to her room the next morning after a short knock. “Chris?? Good God, what do you want?” “I am being civilised. Hence I wanted to offer the ladies my company for the walk to the campus!” Judy burst out laughing. Jan showed up behind her. She looked directly at Christopher and hesitated; but then she could not help laughing out loud either. “I am pleased to see that my words were not without effect on you, Mr Oakland!” “Well I just want to maintain my chance to see that I shall be proved right!” Janine’s laughter died immediately. “I see; so you have chosen fight to the end?” “No fighting; just waiting. But to be fair to you I want to tell you that I am hardly ever wrong!” “And I want to tell you that you don’t know me yet; and maybe you will regret ever to have got to know me at all!” “Right- can we go now? You can carry on arguing, while we walk!” Judy made her way through the middle and started towards the stairs. The next weeks passed in similar manner, whenever Janine and Christopher met each other. They were like fire and water; each of them immediately brought out the fighter in the other one. Janine simply needed to prove herself and this man that she was first class. Christopher however wanted to use Janine’s inevitable failure to prove the failure of the kind of society she represented in his eyes. The two apparently so different people debated much and fiercely. First they argued about medicine, the traditional roles for woman and man, politics, philosophy, music, literature, about anything and everything – and through that they unknowingly educated each other and finally learned to listen to each other. Peu a peu they realised that they actually had similar views on the most important matters. They actually started to value each other’s views and opinions. They subconsciously began to look for what they had in common rather than what separated them. The final change in their relationship happened in a warm summer night, when Janine came home from university and passed Chris’ room. The door was wide open. It looked absolutely chaotic inside: books and medical journals everywhere, notes, paper, clothes….Janine could not help herself and stepped inside. “Well doctor, what describes this best: rather “A genius always has a chaotic desk” or Nietzsche’s “You have to have chaos inside you in order to be able to give birth to a dancing star!”??? Chris who was sitting in the middle of all this chaos on the floor with a thick book on his lap, a chocolate bar in one and a mug of coffee in another hand, looked up. For the very first time he saw her as a woman, a very attractive woman. His head was hammering with old exam questions that he had gone through all afternoon; in his eyes glowed the picture of a positive, energetic woman. He curled his lips. “Would you like to have dinner with me?” “What is that all about? Do you think I want a bite of your old chocolate bar??” “Na, I was more thinking of a nice cosy restaurant, maybe Ghirardelli Square!” Janine stared at him. It would never ever have crossed her mind to have a date with Chris. “Are you suggesting a rendez-vous here?” “Yes. Good God I almost regret having asked you!” Janine thought for a moment. “Ok, but separate bills….and no attempts for any silly business!” “Don’t be so big-headed!” His voice sounded unnaturally mellow. Janine turned round and looked at him. “Pick me up in an hour!” “What on earth do you need an hour for now?” “To get over the shock that Mr Perfect here has asked me for a date!”