ONE SELF PORTRAIT EVERY DAY in 2020 : 232

“Do you know how to play ‘Détente’”
“I don’t” I said.
He kicks me under the table and says: “I’m sure you do”.

We start playing a card game for a while inventing rules as we go.

Other people start watching and the game gets more heated. I lay down on the table a three of sticks followed by a four of sticks and a seven of golds and say “fourteen! two in the bag”.

He counters by playing the king of cups “countered!”, I pretend to be angry “for feck sake” and then slam the ace of golds over it “Ha! Détente!”

We pick up our cards and start counting points, “fifty, twelve, four, sixteen, twelve, one hundred and sixty five”. He counts and gets a total of 295. I write down our scores on a piece of paper.

I can’t remember his name (i’ll call him Antonio) but I remember he was from Milazzo, I don’t know if that was the first time he played Détente which would have meant that I was there at the birth of this phenomenon or if it was something he had previously invented.

He invites the others to join the game, we will teach them how to play as we go “it’s quite easy, you’ll pick it up”. The rules seem to have a certain logic but keep on shifting so that each time someone thinks they understand, the rules change: “Ace of golds, Détente!” “Sorry, you can’t do Détente in this case because the queen of cubs was played before, an Ace of golds becomes the equivalent of a two of sticks when played after the queen of cups or the ten of swords but becomes a double Détente when you play it after an even numbered card:.

People are confused but take our word for it and we carry on playing. After a while, Antonio ends the game by lining up the cards in a straight line and shouts “Champs-Élysées” and throws all the cards in the air.

Back in Reading, we introduced the game to other students, the game would be different every time, the only thing that would stay constant was the ending.

I remember it once it got a bit out of hand after a game was ended with an abrupt “Champs-Élysées”, and one of the players who was drunk was holding up the ace of sticks shouting “no fecking way, I’ve got the Ace of sticks, I fecking won”.

I taught it to Emil this afternoon and he wasn’t impressed.

I AM STILL ALIVE

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