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(Page 2 of 2) Aces by Dan BiegerThe strange thing was the tendril of smoke I saw rising from his chair. Just a whiff and then nothing so that I wasn't sure it had happened."
"You think I'm cheating?' Mary Sue asked me. I'm thinking about seven aces in the deck but that wouldn't be her fault les, of course, she was working with Sue but, even then, it would be more Sue than her so I'm saying: ‘no way, ma'am; no way." And we get to playing stud again.
"I lose five hands in a row. I guess my face gets to looking quizzical cause Mary Sue looks at me through those damned glasses and I get to feeling a little hot under the collar. Really. It feels like my collar could be catching whatever was in Frisco Slim's chair."
"Well, the last thing I remember, Sue deals me an ace up and Mary Sue has an ace up, too. She bets and I raise and she raises right back. The next card she gets a king and I get a jack and the betting goes the same. She gets another king and I get another jack. We're checking each other's pile to see who can buy this pot but we're looking pretty even. Final card is an ace, for both of us. Mary Sue bets and I throw everything I got in. She calls saying that she's got a king under and no way I can win."
"Well, I remember grinning at her and at Sue and saying real nice like: sorry, ma'am, and telling her that she lost."
Sue started shaking, jumped up, took off running. The building started shaking, maybe from the panic Sue was generating but I think it had more to do with Mary Sue. Her eyes were burning a hole in my cards, literally. The smoke was already to my nose, the fire beginning to spread across the table. That's it. I don't remember any more till I'm here talking to you."
"Of course, she lost. I had another ace in the hole."
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