“Pair of Deuces”
Book 1, chapter 7; Book 2, chapter 5
Characters
1.7 Protagonist, an old man (unnamed), his fellow card players and coinhabitants of what is probably a retirement facility (Warren, Ray, Blackie), problematic daughter-n-law (unnamed)
2.5 Jenny, lover of Ralph and husband of Bill; Inez, wife of Ralph and lover of Bill.
General Subject/ Plot
1.7: old man playing poker at senior facility trades in three cards in the hopes of getting a third deuce, with reflections.
2.5: Two couples (a pair of deuces) cheating on each other during the holiday season. A woman buys a christmas present for her husband with her lover, and have sex; her husband and her lover’s wife, who know of their spouse’s betrayal, are in the meantime also having sex.
Motifs
1.7 Borsalino, baseball caps, powder blue worsted suit, white sun dress, Jesus, Gun Hill Road, Ridge Meadow Manor,
2.5 Christ, Christmas, Santa Claus, infidelity, alcohol (scotch and water, gin), blue suede, San Francisco
Notes
The first “Pair of Deuces” resembles the first “Movies” in that in each a man, feeling something akin to nostalgia, realizes it’s something different from a simple desire to return to the past he craves; in this case, it’s oblivion, it’s to have never been born.
I think the first “Pair of Deuces” is the first time we see an old man as protagonist.
The second “Pair of Deuces” suggests the story told in the first “Another Story” — a woman off to get a gift for her boyfriend/ husband winds up in a hotel room with her boyfriend/ husband’s friend. Also like the first “Another Story”, it seems to occur in San Francisco (St. Francis Hotel).
Is the implication of the first “Pair of Deuces” that the old man wanted to improve on his “pair” (a man and wife) with a third of the same type (another woman) and so lost to Ray, who stuck with his low pair (remained faithful, despite the irritation)?
In both “Pair of Deuces”, the continuing theme of the inefficacy/ hippocracy/ commercialization of religion. In the second, the appearance of television (black and white — so this occurs a good bit in the past), which also plays a role in the story that precedes it, the second “Lovers.” — The shows are portrayed as antic and ridiculous.
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