The familiar characters of this story are not my own but are the property of corporate entities (DC Comics, December 3rd Productions, ABC, etc.) other than myself. This work is a labor of love and is presented with no expectation of remuneration.
~~~~~~~~~~
Perry shuffled the cards and flexed his shoulders. “Last hand for the night, folks. It’s getting late. Our banker, Clark, will settle up with everyone before you leave.” He set the deck on the table to his right. “Your cut, I believe, ma’am?” he offered.
The short, sharp-eyed, red-headed lawyer tapped the top of the deck with her index finger. “I like the cards just as they are. No cutting needed.”
“Your choice, Ms. McClure.”
“I already told all of you, it’s just Sharon, please. I’m Ms. McClure during office hours or to my slow-paying clients.”
Perry and Clark chuckled. Jimmy assayed a weak smile. Lois only glared.
“Sounds fine to me,” Perry replied. “Here we go, folks, five-card draw, nothing wild, pair of jacks or better to open. Everybody ante up a pair of white chips.”
Plastic disks clicked against each other as the five players tossed money in the pot. The editor dealt five cards to each player. “Your bet, Lois,” Perry said. “You in?”
“Five bucks.”
“Your hand’s that good, partner?”
“Just call, raise, or fold, Clark.”
“Okay. Here’s your five.”
Perry lifted one eyebrow. “Your bet, Jimmy. How brave are you?”
“Brave enough to be smart and not bet against Ms. McClure – sorry, Sharon. But I’m in for five.”
Sharon picked up a chip and tossed it in the pot. “The lady lawyer rides the wave with five.”
“And the dealer matches the five and raises five more. Anybody ready to quit yet?”
The other four players grunted, groaned, or chuckled, but each one put another five in the pot. Perry nodded and picked up the deck again.
“How many cards, Lois?”
“Just two, Chief.”
“Fine with me. Clark, what about you?”
“Three.”
“Here you go. How many, Jimmy?”
“I’ll play these.”
“Oh, I like an optimist. Sharon?”
“I’ll take one, Mr. White.”
“Here’s your one, and the dealer takes two.” Perry picked up his cards and smiled. “Now the real fun begins. Who beats who, and who goes home happy? Your bet, Lois.”
“I like these cards. I’m in for ten.”
Clark flashed a mega-watt grin at her. “I’ll match your ten, Lois, and raise you five.”
Perry leaned back and lifted his eyebrows. “Watch out, we got a high roller over here! I call your raise, Clark. Jimmy, that’s fifteen to you.”
“I know, I know!” He played with his cards for a moment, then sighed deeply. “Nuts! I fold.”
Sharon tilted her head to one side. “You may have given up too fast, Jimmy. Here’s your fifteen, Lois, and ten more. Are you still in?”
“Of course I am! Call. C’mon, Clark, call her.”
“I don’t know, Lois. I don’t think my hand is that strong.”
“Oh! Men!” She reached into Clark’s pile of chips and tossed another ten into the pot. “There! You call!”
“Wait a minute! You don’t know what I have!”
“And you don’t know that when you play poker you don’t play the cards, you play the other players! Your bet, Perry!”
“Let’s see, that’s twenty-five to me, right?”
“Right.”
“Well, then, Sharon, let’s find out what you’re made of. Here’s the twenty-five, and twenty more.”
Clark smiled ruefully at his cards and put them face-down on the table. “I’m out.”
“Clark! You can’t quit like that!”
“My cards, my decision, Lois. I can quit any way I want to, and I’m out. It’s you and Perry and Sharon on this hand.”
“Well I’m not folding! Twenty! And ten more!”
Perry gave her an Elvis-approves-of-the-banana-and-peanut-butter-sandwich grin. “I’ll match that ten, Lois.”
Sharon nodded approvingly. “Well, well, well, it seems we have a couple of players after all. That’s thirty to me, right?” She sat back and tapped the upper edges of her cards with her free hand. “Okay, it’s only money. I call.”
“I got you this time, Sharon! Lay them out where we can see them.”
“Very well, Lois. Full house, tens over threes.”
“What! You mean – oh, nuts!” Lois threw down her cards face up to reveal three queens. “Again with the great hand!”
Perry chuckled. “My, my, my. I’m glad my back was against the wall.” He put down his hand and displayed two black aces, two black eights, and the jack of diamonds.
Sharon smiled broadly. “Whoa! I’m glad we aren’t in Deadwood!”
Jimmy frowned in confusion. “What? Wait, Sharon, what does Deadwood have to do with the Chief’s poker hand?”
Sharon raked the pile of chips to the rest of her winnings for the night. “According to legend, kiddo, that was the hand Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot in the back of the head in 1876. Black aces over black eights, although there’s some disagreement over the fifth card. Gamblers nowadays call it the dead man’s hand.”
Lois crossed her arms and huffed. “Thanks for the history lesson, but I’m ready for the next hand! I want some of my money back.”
“Sorry, people,” said Perry, “but morning comes early tomorrow and this old newshound needs to get some shut-eye. I already said this was the last hand.” He stood and stretched. “Everybody cash in and go get some sleep. Good night, folks. I want to see Lois, Clark, and Jimmy in the office no later than nine in the morning.” He picked up his coat and half-bowed to the red-haired woman sorting her chips. “Thank you for a most instructive evening, Sharon. I hope you’ll remember this night the next time one of your colleagues decides to give me grief about a story I want to run.”
She smiled back at him. “No promises, but I will remember that you’re more than willing to contribute to my retirement fund.”
Everyone but Lois laughed. “I’m glad you all find this so amusing. I’m going home. Clark, I’ll see you tomorrow. You can give me whatever’s left of my stake then.”
“Okay. Are we still on for breakfast tomorrow?”
She stopped in the doorway and her expression softened. “Yes. Come by and pick me up, okay?”
“Only if I can grab a ride with you from there.”
“Consider it done, partner. Good night, everyone.”
The other two men exchanged their meager chips for cash. Perry collected Jimmy with his eyes and they walked out together. “How’d she clean us out so easily, Chief?” Jimmy asked. “It was like she could see our cards.”
Perry laughed. “I’ll explain it to you when you’re older, son.”
Clark pulled a stack of bills out of his pocket and counted them out. “I think you made a real dent in Lois’ disposable income tonight.”
Sharon laughed. “It’s actually pretty easy when you know how.”
“I see. So, you’ve made a comprehensive study of poker odds?”
“Hardly. Your partner was right about several things tonight, but the one about poker that she really nailed is that you don’t play the cards, you play the people.”
Clark frowned. “I’m not sure I understand that any more now than when Lois said it.”
She folded the bills he gave her and put them in her purse, then took the cards and shuffled them expertly. “Look, you need a good hand to win, at least most of the time, but you have to know something about what your opponents have and what they’re going to do with what they’ve got. Will he bluff? Will she play cautiously? Will he try to win small pots along the way and end up a medium-sized winner instead of going for the big score? You have to read the other players.”
He shrugged. “Still don’t understand.”
“You need to know each player’s tells. And before you ask, that’s a poker term for something a player does to tip off the kind of hand he or she has.”
“I understand the concept, I think, but I’m still fuzzy on the details.”
“Okay, I’ll take pity on you. You’re easy to read. You only bet when you have good cards. You didn’t even have a pair of jacks on that last hand, did you?”
“Not to start with. I ended up with two pair, deuces and fives.”
“Not bad, but not great, either. It wouldn’t have beaten any of the other hands except maybe Jimmy’s, and I don’t know what he had. He lost two pretty good-sized pots early on and got gun-shy. Running him out was easy unless he had really good cards, so I knew I could beat him unless he had a killer hand. And unless he has that killer hand, he plays with his cards like he’s trying to rewrite the values.”
She fanned the cards in her right hand. “Now Lois, she’s a risk-taker, but the worse her hand is the louder she gets and the more she frowns. I knew she had a borderline hand when she raided your chips.”
“Three queens is borderline?”
“For her it is. She wants the big score every time. It’s part of what makes her such a good reporter, but it can work against her, too.”
“I’m beginning to understand what you mean. What about Perry?”
“Oh, man,” moaned Sharon, “beating him was the luck of the draw tonight. He’s easily the best player you guys brought. His only real tell is that he tends to get more charming and down-home Southern when he has a weak hand. That’s the only way I was able to keep out of trouble with him.”
“Very enlightening.” Clark stood and shrugged into his suit jacket. “And I suppose you gained these people-reading skills in either law school or in the courtroom?”
She allowed him to open the door for her. “Nope. I supplemented my income in college by playing poker in Vegas. After all, I got my pre-law degree at the University of Nevada.”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh. I think there are a couple of casinos that still won’t let me walk through the doors.”
They shared a laugh as they walked down the hall to the elevator. Courteous as always, Clark allowed his female companion to enter before him, and he was still chuckling as the doors slid shut.
*****
Lois watched from the darkened side room as Clark and Sharon walked down the hall. What were they laughing about? What was so funny? And why was this woman lawyer walking so close to Clark? She was too chubby for Clark! He liked slender women!
Or – did he?
A still, small voice whispered to her that all men were unfaithful, that all men were out to use her, that even Clark would break her heart if she let him get too close.
Another part of her brain insisted that Clark was not like other men, that he was as faithful as the daily sunrise, if not more so, and if he ever broke her heart his only desire would be to mend it again.
The argument with herself was getting more intense as time went by. It was taking more of her time and energy to keep up with the two sides of herself. And neither side was winning.
She pulled her jacket tighter as if warding off a chill. This constant internal bickering was starting to get her down. She needed something to cheer her up, something to take her mind off her own relationships. And seeing that classic 1932 Ford V-8 sedan that Perry had been bragging about all afternoon might be just the ticket. He insisted that it had once been driven by Clyde Barrow on one of his getaway romps in Oklahoma. Or was it Texas? Or maybe Kansas?
No matter. She loved to tease the men about their toys. Even Clark would be impressed. Hearing the guys ooh and ahh over an old car would take her mind off her own problems and give her a good laugh.
She hoped.
Last edited by Terry Leatherwood; 11/22/14 09:18 AM. Reason: Added blue arrow
