Lucky Palms - Part 5
My teacher chuckled, leaning back in his stool, looking at me through eyes nearly closed, cigarette in mouth, one hand resting against his head. He looked at me the way men look at women and I felt a rush of heat rose through my body.
"Star TREK Lady in Pink takes all, believe it or not." The dealer accented the Trek with a nod in my direction. He made his declaration with a straight face and steady voice but his eyes gave away a laugh. I couldn't believe it! I won my first poker game ever! I set my purse and Avon brochures down on the velvet of the table and pushed my stool away, stood up an did a Woo Woo Woo butt dance with my hands in the air.
"Uh huh Uh huh Uh huh I won, I won, I won, Uh huh Uh huh Uh huh," I chanted, and sat back down to notice every person in the entire room staring at me. Whoops. Maybe one doesn't do butt dances in poker rooms. They should, I thought, they should!
The dealer counted the cash, made change, placed a small amount in the house box and pushed the rest toward me. I grabbed it all at once and shoved it in my purse. I looked at my pile of brochures and decided to quit while I was ahead.
"Thank you, gentlemen, for your patience and your money! I am giving you each a crisp Avon brochure to take home to the woman in your life. There is a sample inside each book, make sure you let her know that." I passed around the brochures, and held my hand out to shake the hand of my teacher. The men shrugged shoulders and laughed. The lech to my left shook his head and rolled up the brochure, shoving it in his back jeans pocket.
"This is for you." I gave my teacher a faded one dollar bill. "It's only fair. We didn't make an agreement about what I give you if I win." He grinned, teeth clamped on cigarette, and accepted the bill and stuck it inside his jacket, next to his chest, at the same time pulling out a business card.
Roger. Gemstone Broker.
"Call me," he said with a voice as low as a whisper.
I waved goodbye and sped home. Late that night I stuck a dollar bill under each of my boys' pillows while they slept. And I held Roger's card, stared at it, traced the letters with my index finger for a long, long time. That night I dreamed about a black card shark lover wearing diamonds, me in my pink super girl pajamas, in a spaceship shaped like a poker table.
9:06:25 AM 
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