“Let’s see,” I sez, thumbin’ through the book, “the sun is out … and we’re playin’ indoors …”
“… and there’s an odd number of players …” Spyder supplies, showin’ she’s gettin’ the hang of the modifyin’ factors.
“… and one of them is female … sort of …” Junebug adds, winkin’ at Spyder.
“Sorry to take so long with your drinks, my friends,” the proprietor sez, announcin’ his presence as he arrives back at the table with a tray of potables. “Now, who has the … HEY! WHAT IS THIS???!!!”
It suddenly occurs to me that there may be some local ordinance against gamblin’ … which would explain why the proprietor is suddenly so upset.
“This?” I sez, innocent-like. “Oh, we’re just havin’ a friendly little game of cards here. Don’t worry, we’re just usin’ the coins to keep score and …”
“Don’t give me that!” our host snarls, with no trace of his earlier greasy friendliness. “That’s Dragon Poker you’re playing! No one plays that game unless …”
He breaks off sudden-like and starts givin’ each of us the hairy eyeball.
“All right, which one of you is a demon? Or is it all of you? Never mind! I want you all out of here … RIGHT NOW!!!”
Chapter Eight:
“It takes one to know one!”
-JACK D. RIPPER
TO SAY THE proprietor’s accusation caused a stir at our table is like sayin’ it would cause raised eyebrows to have Don Bruce as the guest speaker at a Policeman’s Banquet. Unfortuitously, everyone had different questions to ask.
“What’s he mean ‘demon’?” Spyder demanded.
I started to answer her, as I knew from my work with the Boss that a demon is the commonly accepted term for a dimension traveler, but there was too much cross-talk for rational-type conversation.