A Little Tradition, Part Two

They played all sorts of card games that night. The girl taught the monster how to play King's Corners, Crazy 8's, and Go Fish. The monster taught the girl how to play Hunt the Jungle, which was a special card game that monsters like to play. It was very similar to Go Fish, which the monster seemed to like a great deal. He acted a little upset when the girl knew so many games and he didn't, so it might've been very likely that he made up the game right there, but the girl didn't want to say anything.

They played for hours and had a lovely time. The girl won every single hand. She was very good, but more importantly, the beast was quite terrible. Still, he grinned and pawed throught he cards eagerly, slicing more than a few in half. By the end of the night, little chopped up pictures of naked ladies littered the floor of the cave.

"Well," sighed the beast, "I'm hungry now,"

She just beamed back at him with a pleasant smile.

"So, uhh," he continued, "I'm going to eat you,"

"But I won," she replied.

"Yeah," he agreed, "But I'm still going to eat you,"

"Well that's kind of silly," she insisted, "Think about it. A game is more fun when you play for something. I won, so I should go home,"

He shook his head, "Nope. I'm hungry and I've been looking forward to eating you. So that's going to happen," He growled and loomed over her.

"Sure," she nodded, not at all phased by his steaming breath and bubbling drool, "But how much tastier would I be after you won a game,"

He sat back, rattled by this interesting notion.

She continued, "Think about it: We're playing, it's a tough match, you lay down the winning hand, I cry out in defeat, you cheer in victory and gobble me up!"

His eyes bulged at the thought, "That sounds great,"

"And you would waste all of it if you ate me right now,"

He scratched his forehead at the thought. He wasn't used to thinking very far into the future, but the girl knew all sorts of fun games. She might be right about this.

"Okay," he said, picking up the few cards left, "Let's play again, I'm hungry,"

"Well I'm tired, so I'm going home to sleep,"

He slammed an angry fist on the table. She turned around with a frown.

"I'm too tired to play right now. But we'll play again this time next year. If you win, you can eat me," she said, simply.

"You'll come back?"

"I promise,"