Coyote Moon by Vornholt John

Author:Vornholt, John [Vornholt, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-07-25T23:00:00+00:00

“Ante up, boys,” Willow said, forming her gigantic pile of poker chips into several neat stacks. The tiny trailer was smoky with tobacco and incense, but Willow figured she had won about two hundred dollars from the carnies so far. She could stand the smoke a little while longer, if they could stand the heat.

She shuffled the deck. “Shall we keep it five-card draw, deuces and one-eyed jacks wild?”

“How are you winning so much?” Lonnie grumbled. “You didn’t tell me you were a poker shark.”

Willow grinned. “Well, I do quite well against my family when we’re playing for Monopoly money. I guess that skill carries over into real money. Poker is a mathematical game, after all, with probabilities and risk factors that can be calculated. Money management is also important.”

An old carny with strange, rheumy eyes scowled and picked up his pathetic handful of chips. “Cash me out. I can’t beat this poker witch! Next time, Lonnie, don’t bring no ringers into the game.”

“Hey, Hopscotch, I didn’t know!” the blond-haired hunk insisted. “I loaned her five bucks so she could play a few hands. Who knew?”

Willow cheerfully counted the old man’s chips and gave him $3.75. “It was a pleasure meeting you.”

“Right,” he grumbled. “I’m going outside to keep a lookout for that vandal before we open up.”

“You have a vandal?” Willow asked in alarm.

The old man gave her a sneer. “Just someone who wants to screw things up for us. We’ll catch ’em.”

“Why don’t you tell the police?”

Hopscotch rubbed the gray stubble on his chin. “We don’t hold with outsiders knowing our business. In the carnival, we have our own brand of justice.”

“I see,” Willow said with a nervous smile.

“Come on, deal!” growled one of the players, a bare-chested young carny with long dark hair. Hopscotch waved and ambled out the door.

“You didn’t ante up,” Willow said, and the young man scowled and tossed two fifty-cent chips into the pile. Willow shuffled the cards and dealt to him, Lonnie, a third carny, and herself. She decided not to be so ruthless; maybe she would even give them some of their money back.

“Remind me never to play strip poker with you,” Lonnie said with a wink.

Willow blushed. “Okay, I won’t let it cross your mind.”

“We might as well be playing strip poker,” the guy without a shirt muttered. “Any more hands like this, and I’ll be lucky to have my underwear.”

“I can only give you fifty cents for your underwear,” Willow joked. “I think that’s more than generous.”

Lonnie laughed. “I’ll give you two cents.”

Still smiling, Willow picked up her cards and saw two queens and a two, which was a wild card. Even before drawing any more cards, she already had three queens. No sense denying it, Willow thought cheerfully, it’s my lucky day.

• • •

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