Tricia pulled a deck of cards out of her purse and fiddled with them as she spoke. The girls sometimes played with that deck in the park when they hung out, but this time Sam suspected Tricia had a different kind of game in mind.
"This game will determine what age you're going to be when you walk out of this alley. We're both going to draw a card. If your card is lower than mine, you're going to get younger. If your card is higher than mine, you're going to get older. If we both pick the same card, then it's your lucky day. You'll get to decide what age you turn into. If our cards are different, then how much younger or older you become will depend on exactly how far off we are."
Samantha thought for a moment. "So, if I draw a six, and you draw an eight..."
"Then you'll become two years younger, since your number was two lower than mine."
"And if my number is seven or eight less than yours?"
"Well obviously, the lowest age you can be is zero...but perhaps I'll turn you into an embryo."
Samantha couldn't tell if her friend was joking or not.
Tricia continued explaining the rules as if she hadn't said anything awkward. "The ace counts as one. I've removed all the face cards. That means this deck has four sets of cards numbered one through ten." Tricia shuffled the deck, then offered it to Samantha to cut. After that, Trish drew off the top card. Samantha decided to skip the new top card and draw the card directly underneath it instead.
Both girls looked at their cards, then at each other. "Age before beauty," young Samantha smirked, inviting Tricia to reveal her card.