Four of a Kind

I’ve always loved the name Jack. Given my choice, I’d probably have named my son Jack instead of Mark, but my ex won that time and Mark got what his sister considers a ‘lucky’ name, the name of the ex’s uncle. (Not that lucky... the old uncle died and left his money to an earlier generation.)

So I use the name Jack often in the stories I write. Haven’t named any of my pets Jack, but I always seem to have female pets and that name just doesn’t sound like a female. Jack is such a guy’s name, and most Jacks are pretty cute guys... like Jack Kennedy, one of the outstanding Jacks of all time. A lot of them get to be ‘Jackie,’ as in Jackie Robinson and Jackie Chan, but I prefer just plain Jack, as in ‘Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy,’ from our long lost youth (my ancient generation, that is).

And think of all the expressions using that name: ‘Jack be nimble/ Jack be quick/ Jack jump over the candlestick.’ Or, ‘Jack of all trades/ master of none.’ (That’s me, female though I be.) Jack and Jill, Jack and the Beanstalk, Jack Russell terrier, Little Jack Horner, Jack the Ripper, Jack Frost,  Black Jack, Crackerjack, Applejack, Jack Daniel’s whiskey, Jack cheese, jack hammer, jack knife, and that ever popular ‘jack off’... wow, I could go on forever, think about it, you’ll remember a LOT more.

So, I was thinking (yeah, I do that once in awhile) the other day, I seem to have acquired three Jack friends since I moved to San Francisco. The oldest (he will hate me for that) is my friend Jack Light, then my cute little buddy, Jack Kessler over in El Cerrito (or the Oakland hills or wherever he has wandered to now) and a new one, cute tall, athletic, young Jack Fisher down in Santa Monica, the soccer player. Well, you can’t win a big round with only three of a kind, so I’m adding to the mix.

Yesterday I received a darling little ‘lucky monkey water dropper’ from China. (Google it, I’m not explaining.) He is adorable, an antique, and even has a usable chop on the bottom of the square block he is sitting on. His cute little expressive face seemed to be saying “I need a name, give me one.” So I am naming him Jack Chimp. Now I figure I should go out and buy a Powerball ticket and maybe a couple of our California lottery tickets too. At last I have four of a kind. Only Jacks, you say? Well, I ain’t gonna get no Kings or Queens 'round c'here any time soon, so I figure four Jacks might be pretty good. Of course, with my luck the day I get those tickets someone with four aces will show up to knock me back down. Story of my life...