Tearing at the Cracks: Thirteen short stories to keep you awake at night by Jonathan True

Author:Jonathan True [True, Jonathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-11-24T00:00:00+00:00

Abraham Karaganis and the case of the Dragon’s Gold

“It’s no exaggeration, I didn’t think I was going to make it out of that one… alive or otherwise.” Abraham Karaganis shuffled the deck of cards in front of him, making sure to let the other players keep a full view of the deck the entire time. He didn’t want a repeat of last week. Nobody wanted a repeat of last week.

There were four other players at the hexagonal, felt-topped table. To them, it was a very familiar scene: the five of them had been playing cards, every Wednesday night, for years. Occasionally, there were other players, and sometimes one of the regulars had to miss, but it was a tradition that they all did their best to keep.

Usually, like on that night, they went to Peter Grovaninski’s house. Some people would say he was somewhat well-to-do, so it made sense for everyone to meet at his place. He had the perfect room for their game, and a maid came by every Thursday morning to clean up in case things got out of hand. Peter started a construction company back in his twenties, and now, nearly thirty years later it was international. Peter was personally responsible for the construction of some of the world’s most recognizable skyscrapers.

“There we go,” Abe said. “All finished shuffling.” He sat the deck, face down, to his right where Peter was sitting. “You wanna’ cut the deck?”

Peter sipped his bourbon on the rocks. “No, if you say it’s good, it’s good.”

It was a standing rule that Peter and his step-daughter Bobbie never sit beside each other. The argument was that there was too high a risk of collusion. As such, Bobbie Sanguine, (Sanguine was her mother’s maiden name) was sitting to Abe’s left.

“There has to be a better way to make a living,” Bobbie sounded concerned, but the truth is she loved living vicariously through his stories. The game was fun, but the thing that kept her coming back to her dad’s place week after week was listening to her favorite gumshoe.

Eugene Franke had just come back to the table with a freshly opened bottle of cold beer. A glass door refrigerator stood behind him, against the wall. It was packed with everything from craft beer to root beer, all perfectly organized by the Thursday morning cleaning lady. “Come on already, I’m about to take all yous guys to the bank. Let’s see some cards there, Honest Abe.”

One white chip flew across the felt, landing somewhat in the middle of the table.“Vig up. If you want in, get in, ladies. Otherwise, sit with the spectators.” Mikey Johnson stated in a patronizing tone. The only spectators were in Mikey’s imagination. He was a surveillance officer at the local casino. Mikey dreamed of going out to Vegas one day and playing the Moose International, and as such, took the game very seriously.

Four more white chips slid into the middle of the table in response. Satisfied, Mikey turned his red visor around backward and waited for the cards to come out.

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