A Game of Skill

A short story about a man playing on of the many so called "Games of Skill".

A Game of Skill

I walked into The Den as it was called in this town. The building was nothing more than a ramshackle barn teetering on the edge of collapse.Yet,it didn't seem to bother the locals who wormed their way in at every table. Clogging the place with their foul smelling pipes and perfuming the air with a mixture of sweat and nauseating smoke. Yet even through all this unpleasantness, I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist. How long had it been since I fell so low that I couldn't even pass by a parlor of such ill repute? Regardless, one look at the cards and I was entranced. I found a seat at the nearest table pushing aside two mean looking farmers to get a place. As I sat, the chair let out a murderous groan cursing my very presence. Making me wonder what kind of torments the dealer’s chair must have gone through for he was no small man. His poultry figure cast a shadow across the whole table where me and five others sat. ven in the dim light, I could see the sweat glistening off his hands covering the cards as he shuffled them in the most haphazard of ways. What a striking difference from the military like precision of dealers from the City.  As I watched, he dropped a card onto the filth encrusted floor, only to pick it up and wipe it off as if nothing had happened. Finally, he finished and he dealt out the cards. Looking at each player with his beady black eyes. Showing off more perception than his figure should warrant. Finally he turned to me, I could see some surprise linger in his eyes as he inspected me. Then after a long pause, he spoke with an almost impenetrable drawl.

“So, a city folk has come to visit our fine establishment.”

I did not even acknowledge the statement. We both knew the outlandishness of calling anything about this establishment, if you could even call it that, fine. I waited for the inevitable question all dealers must ask.

“So, what’s your bet?”

I smiled then for a knew it would gall them and threw out a gold coin. It clanked loud as a gunshot onto the table. The other players, all farmers or the like gasped in shock, most of them probably never having seen such a large amount of money. Having had my fun, I reached out to retract it and replace it with a more reasonable sum. Yet Before my hand could even lift off of the scarred wood, the dealer’s hand shot fast as a snake and deposited the coin in his pouch with the other bets. A little taken aback for I would be surprised if this rotting facsimile of an establishment could even afford to pay me the amount they would owe if I won,I stared then at the dealer, his eyes glinting with malicious delight. He could see I was visibly in shock. Then a smile slashed across his beast like guise.

“I’m glad you could join our little game today, here’s hoping you having luck.”

He raised the deck almost in a salute and passed me my cards. I was starting to despair, I dared not look at my cards for fear of what I might see. I peered through the smoky haze that permeated the air and reflecting back at me were two kings. I contained my savage delight then, for it would not do to look unrestrained until the dealer sealed his fate. After what seemed like an agonizing eternity, the dealer pounded down his two cards onto the table with such force I feared the rotting wood would splinter beneath our hands. But alas the table held and I stared through the murky flickering light at the cards, practically sunk into the table. The first was a Jack the card’s black face smiling at me with contempt that only I should be able to hold in this room. With this discovery, my heart sped up beating in my chest as if trying to escape. This pounding filling my ears and blocked all of the other raucous noise in the dingy barn. I revolved my eyes towards his second card. Slowly the rectangle filled my vision, its menacing presence overpowering my thoughts as I slowly assembled its shape in my head. The accursed A. I began to tremble then, my muscles resisting my control as I moved to stand. I got up intending to walk away from the table and that accursed letter. Yet even as I moved towards the door whose frame looked as stable as my composure, I glanced back at the dealer, his black pupils searing into me. He once again flailed around shuffling the deck his face impassive hardly registering the fortune he just gained. I was entranced and I sat back down pulling out a silver this time and violently throwing it at the table. Scaring the already decrepit wood.

Again, the smile  seemed to deform his already ugly face as he said,

“I’m glad you could join our little game today, here’s hoping you have luck.”

Reviews

[Rana Adalwolfa Simon]

The descriptions in here are fantastic! I like how you give great visuals of the characters, but leave their intentions very vague. It pulls you in, and the subtle amount of charm you give the dealer and the protagonist by the end is a satisfying wrap-up for such a cliff-hanger piece. My only suggestion is a copy edit. There are quite a few grammatical and punctuation errors throughout, none of them major, but a good sweep to correct them would give this piece the proper refinement it needs to be not good, but great.

[endlessfiish]

Thanks for the advice I know that my grammar has always been one of my weaker points. I'm glad you liked the piece though. This was defiantly a work in progress and the feedback's very helpful.