CHAPTER 6
We played five more rounds, Benny drawing another bloated wrap of money from his jacket for each new hand. With that kind of cash to throw around without so much as a flinch, I wondered why he would even be bothering to take such risks on illegal games of poker.
I again sat and stared at Brent’s face, attempting to detect his chain of thought and getting varying degrees of success. The “epiphany” eluded me the first two times, but I called a dead hand and was right on both accounts. On the third I figured he must have at least a high pair since there were clear signs of excitement, unfortunately it turned out he had double fives.
By the last two hands I could feel a definite improvement. The epiphany struck again and I called a triple on the second last hand, seeing Brent’s eyes nearly glowing with delight, and was bang on. By the fifth hand I was brave enough to even call the cards in detail, going for a pair of sevens. He had tens.
“You’re getting it now,” Benny said, glowing with pride, “I was a little concerned about teaching this stuff to a virtual newbie, but you’ve turned out to be a good student, Jet.” He reached into his jacket and I expected another roll of cash, but instead the bag of tobacco emerged. He tipped a little pile onto the table and started the same process I recognised from the Department of Magic, sorting through it with slow deliberation.
“Thanks,” I replied.
To my left, Brent was gloating over the two piles of money he had won, the expression on his face so reminiscent of a stereotypical greedy banker it was almost laughable.
The wad of money that represented my own personal winnings for the evening, although pleasant, was nowhere near as exhilarating as the intoxicating power of magic I had sampled. A world I never imagined had opened to me and, for lack of a better word, I was intoxicated.
“There must be thousands here,” Brent was crooning to himself.
“Well, let’s call it a night,” Benny declared, rolling up a cigarette and sticking it into a corner of his mouth. “We’ve made excellent progress, Jet. Practice.”
“I will. Believe me.”
We all stood, Brent stuffing money into his pockets by the handful. Benny lit the cigarette, took a single drag and dropped it to the floor.
“We’ll meet again in a few days,” Benny said as he slipped the deck of cards into his jacket, “I think a few more of these sessions and we can hit the big leagues, maybe in a month or two.”
“No, it has to be sooner,” Brent jumped in.
“What? Why?” His brother turned on him, shooting a stern look. Brent recoiled visibly.
“I promised the investor it would be sooner. But honestly, I don’t know why we need them when you’ve got this kind of cash, Benny.” Brent flapped a booklet of notes against his palm.
“The money’s fake, Brent.” Benny snorted, as though being forced to state the obvious. “Why would you make a promise like that?”
“What?” Brent gaped as if he had been told the money was riddled with smallpox. “Shit, Benny. That’s low. You son of a bitch, you promised me you’d never screw with my head.” He dumped it disgustedly on the table.
“It doesn’t even look real. Now tell me about this promise you made, Brent? Why the hell am I hearing about this now? You swore to me there would be no bullshit.”
“There is no bullshit! What bullshit are you talking about?” Brent’s voice took on a defensive tone, one that seemed practiced. Impression was that this sort of exchange was ritual between the brothers. “I told them I’d get the cash in a month, tops.”
“You told them…” Benny’s words trailed off and he planted a hand over his eyes, frustration bubbling to the surface. “You already took the loan?”
“Obviously! What the hell do you think we’re doing here?! You thought I won the damn lottery? Scraped change out of the couch? And, for your information, it was a God damned miracle I convinced these people. My name is not exactly gold in money lending circles, brother. And may I remind you, you played your fair part in that. ”
“You told me there would be no bullshit!” Benny took a step forward. Brent’s hands shot up in surrender, reaching the limit of righteous indignation.
“Okay, okay, relax. Shit. It’s not the end of the damn world. We just have to speed up the training.”
Benny stared in silence. Brent at first returned the stare defiantly, but soon diverted his gaze. Finally, Benny turned and left the room, Brent watching him go.
“I’ll let you know when the next meeting is,” Brent said to me softly, adjusting his collar in an attempt at regaining dignity, “It’ll be soon.”
“No problem,” I replied.
Brent exited and I stood alone.
All at once I was standing in the seedy hotel room of a seedy hotel in the seedy part of town. The magic had left. It was an ugly place.
After a moment I reached down and picked up my wad of money. I was not surprised to see that it did not even look remotely real. Or at least, I was not as surprised as I would have been a day or two ago.