KINGSTON — We were gathered around the card table in the basement of Top Gun’s house.
It was our weekly pitch game — high, low, jack and game — and it was always an evening filled with laughter and surprises.
This one particular Tuesday was classic and Top Gun again schooled us on much more than the finer points of the card game.
Top Gun — Charles “Chuck” Peterman, Sr. — was our leader, our guru, our single reason for playing pitch every Tuesday evening in his basement. Top Gun loved the game and he was the best player at the table.
On this one particular evening, one of our group decided to boast a little about a fish he had caught, beaming as he described in detail how he had battled the lunker, complete with astonishing statistics of the big fish’s length and weight.
Top Gun just sat there, like the rest of us, wondering when the fish tale would end — waiting for the right moment.
And that moment came — Top Gun fired back.
Top Gun was cordial, at first, as he began by praising the younger fisherman on his quite spectacular catch. And then Top Gun offered this:
“Oh yeah, well I was fishing one time and I hooked something really big. After about a 30 minute fight, I finaly got it up and it was an old lantern and guess what — that lantern was still lit.”
We all were amazed by this tale, especially the young man who had just showered us with his exaggerated story about a fish he had allegedly caught.
The young man called Top Gun out, claiming Top Gun’s story was untrue.
Then Top Gun lowered the boom:
“Yeah, well I’ll tell you what — you knock a couple of inches and pounds off your fish, and I’ll blow out my lantern.”
A drop the mic moment for sure.
That was Top Gun at his finest. He wasn’t rude or mean, he just simply made his point.
And there were many other lessons taught to us by Top Gun and many of those dealt with the card game of pitch.
If we had five players at the table, we played “draw pitch.” In this game, each player is dealt six cards and we go around the table to see who will bid. Once a bid is made, each player can discard up to three cards and draw from the deck. After the re-draw, the bidder can stay with his two or three bid, or increase it. If he stays, the other players can outbid him and the game proceeds.
OK, so on this one night, Top Gun bids two and before we can re-draw, he forgets and leads out an ace of clubs. Hold on there Top Gun, we have to draw first.
So now, we all know what he is bidding in, so we keep our clubs and toss the rest. Then Top Gun increases his bid to three and we are salivating because we have all these clubs and he is sure to go up.
Then, in one of the most amazing moments in the history of pitch playing, Top Gun leads out with an ace of diamonds!
Wait, what?
Didn’t he throw out an ace of clubs before we drew? Yes, he sure did. Then he apparently drew an ace, jack and deuce of diamonds and changed his bid.
Of course he made his bid and we all sat back and wondered. Was Top Gun just the beneficiary of the luck of the draw? Or did he know exactly what he was doing?
I, for one, think it was a brilliant maneuver that should qualify Top Gun for the Card Playing Hall of Fame.
I tell you these stories because we lost Top Gun last week. Charles H. Peterman, 88, of Kingston, died Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022, in Wilkes-Barre General Hospital.
Top Gun resided in Kingston all of his life — in that same house we played pitch in every Tuesday.
Top Gun was employed as a postal carrier for the U.S. Postal Service. He was, as his obituary stated, a loving husband, father, grandfather and friend, who enjoyed many days welcoming family and friends to his cabin in Benton.
That cabin, too, was the scene of many Top Gun stories and moments that will be talked about for many years to come.
Top Gun was a lover of nature and the outdoors, who spent countless hours hunting, fishing and enjoying the scenery and he always took time to share his blessings with others.
His obituary said this about him:
“Everyone who came to the cabin was treated as family. His generous heart brought happiness to so many, especially his granddaughters, who were the light of his life.”
Top Gun was one of a kind, Those who got to know him will never forget him and he will live forever in our hearts and we will always laugh when we repeat all those wonderful stories over the years.
And like that lantern he said he caught that was still lit, Top Gun’s light will remain lit in our hearts forever.