New Tidbit

Here's a short scene I finished up yesterday, er, that is, this morning. I hope you like it.

Bill keep his face smooth as Chico threw down his cards. It would be unseemly to chortle over his good luck tonight. He had helped luck along a trifle, and didn't want to share that fact with Chico or the other players in the bunk house. Maybe I'm just an ornery cuss. He dropped his wrist below the table top, shook the other ace out of his sleeve and slid it into his boot top. I only hankered to know if it could be done. He'd find a way to return Chico's cash to him later. It wasn't like when that little scoundrel, Bertie Owen, had cleaned him out. He hadn't felt any impulse to turn over his ill-gotten gains.

Chico pushed back his chair, the lamplight flickering over his scowl. "Hang it all, Henry! Where'd you get so lucky? Miss Marie ain't here to plant a kiss on your cards."

Bill raised a finger and tilted back his hat so he could see Chico. "Don't go mixing the lady into our game, Chico. She ain't a factor in your bad luck."

Chico took off his own hat and slammed it onto the floor. "Damn you, Bill Henry! That was my last three dollars! Now I can't--"

Bill cut off the diatribe by saying, "Have it back, friend, with interest. I don't want a five-spot standing between us," as he extracted a five dollar note from the pile of bills before him and slid it across the table toward Chico.

Chico snatched up the bill, his face relaxing just a mite. "Someday you'll go too far, friend."

Allowing a grin, Bill said, "You've come all the way from Texas with me, Henderson. You know I'm the best friend you have."

"Humph," Chico grunted, picked up his hat, and strode toward the bunk house door, stuffing the money into his shirt pocket with one hand and his hat onto his head with the other.

"Have you gentlemen had enough?" Bill asked the other players.

A chorus of agreement met his question, and Bill took a few bills off the pile and pocketed them as he arose. "Split it up, boys," he said, indicated the remainder. "Be fair." Then he made an exit amidst the cacophany he left in his wake.

As always, my copyright, my draft-quality dreck. Any comments?