“…And up five.”
The gasp from the crowd was louder this time . . . possibly because my coaches had joined in. I heard Aahz clear his throat noisily, but wouldn’t look in his direction. The Kid was staring at me in undisguised surprise. Apparently he had either expected me to fold or call. . . possibly because that would have been the sane thing to do.
“You’re awfully proud of that dead card,” he said thoughtfully. “All right. I’ll call. Pot’s right.”
Two more cards floated onto the table face up. I got a ten! The ten of clubs, to be specific. That canceled his ten and made my seven live again.
The Kid got the unicorn of hearts. Wild card! Now I had ten-seven high against his pair of tens showing.
Terrific.
“I won’t try to kid you.” My opponent smiled. “A pair of tens is worth … twenty thousand.”
“… And up twenty.”
The Kid’s smile faded. His eyes flicked quickly to my cards, then he nodded. “Call.”
No comment. No witty banter. I had him thinking.
The next cards were en route. The three of hearts slid into my lineup. A dead card. Opposing it, the Kid got…
The ten of hearts!
I was now looking at three tens against my ten-seven high! For a moment my resolve wavered, but I shored it up again. I was in too far to change now.
The Kid was eyeing me thoughtfully. “I don’t suppose you’d go thirty on that?” he said.
“I’ll not only go it, I’ll raise you thirty.”
There were muffled exclamations of disbelief in the room . . . and some not so muffled. I recognized the voices of some of the latter.