Living Time: A Poker Boy story Read online

  “How old are your children?” The Kid asked, expertly moving the subject from the guy’s loss to something better.

  The guy seemed to melt at the mention of them. “Six and eight,” he said.

  “I think they would rather have their father than money,” I said.

  He shrugged, but I could tell he wasn’t so sure.

  Four

  “Tell you what, Bob,” I said. “How about you go to work for me and my girlfriend and build us the house of our dreams?” I sure hoped Patty had some idea of what would make a good custom home. I didn’t.

  He looked at me and then smiled, but shook his head. “I don’t have the tools or even a truck or a place to stay.”

  “None of that’s a problem,” I said, laughing. “I need someone with your skill. I’ve got a doublewide close to here that I’m not using that you can live in for free, and I’ll fund you for a new truck and tools. Besides that, I’ll put you on a regular salary for as long as it takes to build the house. And from what Patty and I want, that might take some time. All custom.”

  We all three stood there in the cold wind as he again stared at me, again trying to get a read on me.

  Luckily, this time it didn’t take as long as at the poker table.

  “Are you for real?” he asked. “You can’t really be scamming me. I’ve got nothing more anyone could take.”

  “I’m not kidding,” I said. “I was hoping to hire someone with your skill to build me a house here and from the looks of your situation, I can get you cheaper than you used to charge. A good deal for me.”

  With that he laughed. “Yeah, a bunch cheaper, to be honest.”

  “Do we have a deal?” I asked, extending my hand. “You come to work for me and build me the best damn place you can. And maybe by the time you’re done, the economy will have turned a little and you can ramp your business back up. Or come down to Vegas and help me build a house there after you’re are done here.”

  He hesitated for only a moment, looking me right in the eyes, and then he nodded and shook my hand, smiling. “We have a deal. Thanks. You need to know you just saved my life.”

  “Actually,” I said, waving off his thank you. “You just saved me from moving away from a place I love. But we have to make one more agreement.”

  “What’s that?” he asked, looking suddenly worried.

  “You won’t come in here while you work for me to do anything but have dinner. You’re a fine poker player, but you need to play for the right reasons.”

  “Deal,” he said, smiling. “And after we get the house done, maybe you can give me some lessons.”

  “That I can do,” I said, smiling.

  I handed him a few hundred dollars and pointed at the gas station and grocery across the highway. “This is an advance. I’m going to go cash out my chips. You need to get some gas and some food to stock a fridge for later and breakfast. There’s not a damn thing in that doublewide. Meet me back here in twenty minutes.”

  “Got it, boss,” he said, smiling, the look of desperation now completely gone from his eyes, replaced with a glimmer of hope.

  Halfway back across the cold parking lot, The Kid finally broke his silence. “That felt great helping him like that. Is that what it’s like being a superhero?”

  “Sometimes, yeah, it is. On the good nights.”

  We walked a little ways in silence again before he asked the next question.

  “You really wanted to build a house up here?”

  I laughed. “I hadn’t actually thought of it until tonight. But I own some nice land on hills around here as well as my doublewide. And Patty, my girlfriend, won’t stay up here with me because my place is so shabby. So I might as well build a house with her help so she’ll come up here at times.”

  “You like it here that much?” The Kid asked as we got close to the front doors.

  “I do,” I said.

  “So you saved a man’s life and helped yourself at the same time. You are good. Both at poker and at life.”

  “Is there much difference?” I asked, repeating a phrase that Stan once said to me when I was starting out.

  “Not when you play them both the way you do,” The Kid said, holding the front door of the Casino open for me.

  And that was one of the nicest things anyone had said to me in a long time. I was going to like this kid.

  About the Author

  Bestselling writer Dean Wesley Smith was born and raised in Idaho and knows the trails in the primitive area. All the setting and trails and ghost towns in this story are accurate, and as far as he knows, so are the ghosts.

  Dean has written more than one hundred popular novels and hundreds of published short stories. His novels include the science fiction novel Laying the Music to Rest, also set in this same Idaho valley. With Kristine Kathryn Rusch, he is the coauthor of The Tenth Planet trilogy and The 10th Kingdom.

  He writes under many pen names and has also ghosted for a number of top bestselling writers.

  Dean has also written books and comics for all three major comic book companies, Marvel, DC, and Dark Horse, and has done scripts for Hollywood. One movie was actually made.

  Over his career he has also been an editor and publisher, first at Pulphouse Publishing, then for VB Tech Journal, then for Pocket Books, and now as the executive editor of Fiction River.

  Currently, he is writing thrillers and mystery novels under another name.

 

 

  Smith, Dean Wesley, Living Time: A Poker Boy story

 

 

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