This time the audience actually gasped before lapsing into silence. For several heartbeats there was no sound in the room except the mint crunching between my teeth. I almost regretted my bold move. The mint was incredibly strong.
Finally the Kid grinned.
“I see. You eat my luck, eh? Good. Very good. You’ll find, though, that it takes more than that to disturb my game.”
His tone was jovial, but his eyes darkened even more than they had been and his shuffling took on a sharper, more vengeful tone. I knew I has scored a hit.
I stole a glance at Aahz, who winked at me broadly.
“Cut!”
The deck was in front of me. Moving with forced nonchalance, I cut the deck roughly in half, then leaned back in my chair. While I tried to appear casual, inside I was crossing my fingers and toes and everything else crossable. I had devised my strategy on my own and hadn’t discussed it with anyone … not even Aahz. Now we got to see how it worked.
One card . . . two cards . . . three cards came gliding across the table to me, face down. They slid to a stop neatly aligned, another tribute to the Kid’s skill, and lay there like land mines.
I ignored them, waiting for the next card.
It came, coasting to a stop face up next to its brethren. It was the seven of diamonds and the Kid dealt himself.. .
The ten of diamonds. A ten!
The rules came back to me like a song I didn’t want to remember. A ten face up meant my seven was dead … valueless.
“So much for eating my luck, eh?” the Kid chuckled, taking a quick glance at his hole cards. “My ten will go … five thousand.”