He’s irascible. She’s sweet. He cusses more than he speaks, gnawing on his cigar. She holds her hands primly and requests that he not use Khodaiji’s name in vain. But when fate or circumstance throws them both together on the back porch of the Pallonjee nursing home, they’re forced to find a way to get along and pass their time with competitive and increasingly rancorous games of rummy.
The game, of course, is a metaphor for the larger games the characters have been playing throughout their lives, and as they play, the ghosts of their past and the cards are dealt again. It’s fascinating to watch as their frustrations, failures and angst-filled regrets are slowly exposed.

The Gin Game-original
Written by D. L. Coburn