poker cut

Fantasies of backroom poker tables take hold of my brain and I realize that I must sabotage DeanÕs plan for the evening. The note he needs to depart on, I decide, is not cheap sex, but cards. I go out front and use the payphone to call Jimmy and Ulric. They are both excited by the idea though IÕm not sure either of them can play cards. They strike me as slot machine gamblers, but no matter. 
I go back in and find Dean sitting alone down front. I tell him about the card game and he looks at me like IÕm crazy. A good fifteen minutes of relentless sermonizing convinces him that Nicole is not worth another five hours. He finally caves when I mention that she is rumored to be a prostitute in her spare time. Mind you he caves not because he believes me, but because it gives him an excuse not to chase her. Without any logical reason not to, Dean will always go after the girl. 
	Jimmy and Ulric are already at the house when we pull up. Ulric hasnÕt been around lately, heÕs been having trouble with his girlfriend Rose and then he went on tour for a while. We embrace like itÕs been years. Time being fictionÑit has been years. His hair is blue now and he wears the strain of travel and heartbreak in the creases of his forehead. I run up to ChloeÕs place and grab a deck of cards. I try to convince her to come and play, but sheÕs already in her nightgown and declines to participate in what she calls male time. I tell her Dean is leaving and she promises to say goodbye tomorrow. She seems unhappy and I suspect that she and Jimmy have been fighting again.
 Back at the house Dean has thrown some rockabilly music on the stereo. He and Jimmy are pouring drinks in the kitchen. I try as best I can to explain the game of Texas hold Ôem to them. I deal a couple of practice hands until IÕm satisfied that they understand. I mention nothing about strategy or odds. ItÕs best to let them figure that out on their own. All we need to complete the picture is a few topless cocktail waitressesÑtoo bad we canÕt play at the strip club.
I let Dean deal the first hand
ÒAlright Sil, whatÕs it gonna be?Ó
I was holding an ace down, but the thing with cards is you just never know. I started slow pitching in a dollar. 
ÒPlaying it safe huh?Ó Ulric gives me a look like heÕs trying to decide if IÕm a shark or not, as if I would shark my friends. The strange thing about playing cards with your friends, as opposed to strangers in a casino, is that you can never read your friends with any accuracy. You may get their ticks and twitches down, but conversation always keeps you noticing them at the right time. A silent stranger is an open book, spend a few hands together and you can tell everything from their cards to their emotional state of mind. With friends, cards is less about reading people than it is about good old-fashioned luck.
Jimmy and Dean bring in the drinks and sit down to examine their cards. Jimmy raises me a dollar, but heÕs all false bravado. I can tell cards arenÕt his bag or else heÕs a hell of a shark. And Dean? Well, Dean is just terrible at cards. Ulric deals three up on the tableÑking of hearts, king of spades, and a three of clubs. Dean throws his hand down in disgust. ÒGoddamn itÉ I never get the cards.Ó Dean hates my card playing tendencies, when we used to play back in Los Angeles he always complained that it just cost him money to talk, when normally thatÕs free. I fold just behind him. I smile at him, but he ignores me and turns instead to Ulric, ÒSo Ulric, how was the road? Any good tales to lay on us?Ó
ÒUh huh,Ó he evaluates his cards for a minute longer and then pitches in two dollars. ÒYa hereÕs a humdingerÉ Some kid up in Charleston was going around after the show with a bottle of Jegermeister and I thought, hey cool, I need a drinkÉ So I grabbed it from him and I took a big swig only itÕs not Jegermeister in the bottleÉ.Ó He takes a drag off his cigarette. ÒI swallowed anyway and then I asked him what the hell it was. HeÕs just standing there staring at me all wide-eyed in disbelief, and then he says that itÕs liquid acid and I just got about a thousand or so mics of it.Ó
A collective, ÒOh my god,Ó goes up around the table.
ÒOh yes,Ó Ulric laughs, Òlet me tell you about GodÉÓ His face turns very serious, ÒIt was the most terrifying thing IÕve ever been through. I was whacked out of my head for almost five days. Luckily I remember almost nothing about it.Ó
ÒChrist man, IÕm surprised you made it back with your sanity intact at all.Ó Dean wears an amazed look on his face.
ÒWho said anything about being sane?Ó Ulric is all smiles again.