The intensity of the moment hung over the poker table like an aged salami. Also there was a distinct fragrance of aged salami. Smush stared at Mogey. Mogey stared at Count Higgins. Count Higgins stared at Braggadocious Gil, the mole with 20/20 vision.
"I see your hundred dollars," said Count Higgins, "and I raise you another hundred."
"I see your raise," replied Braggadocious Gil. "Quite literally. Don't know if I've mentioned it, but I'm a mole with 20/20 vision. And as a mole with 20/20 vision, I re-raise you yet another hundred!"
"What about it, Mogey?" Count Higgins inquired. "The action goes to you. Have you enough to continue?"
Mogey peered at his cards, then at his meager stack of poker chips, and then back at his cards. He crammed another slice of aged salami into his mouth. "Smush?" he said with a large and obvious wink. "I'm a bit short. Do you think you could lend me a 'Buck?'"
Smush began to slide a one-dollar chip toward his pal, who scrunched up his neck and shook his head until Smush caught on. "Ah," Smush realized, returning a wink of his own. With eyebrows raised, he withdrew from his collar his most prized family heirloom, a sterling silver necklace featuring a bespectacled 10-point buck wearing a t-shirt with Good Eye Deer splashed across the front. But again Mogey shook his head.
Finally, Smush reached for the bag at his feet and unzipped it a smidge. Several chickens poked their heads out and Mogey nodded sagely.
"I call," Mogey uttered at last, "...upon Buck Buck Saint Petersburg and her Foul Fowls!"
"What's happening?" Count Higgins inquired.
Smush threw the bag into the air and a half dozen chickens burst forth in a spray of feathers, beaks, and claws. They immediately set about eating cards, pecking the players, and causing a general kerfuffle.
"Let chaos reign, Buck Buck!" Mogey shouted. "I've got the aged salami, Smush - you grab the poker chips!"
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