Poker Game
Four men, late twenties to early forties, sit around a square folding table in the host's adequately renovated but dimly lit basement. Cigar smoke and the smell of Vodka mingle in the air.
"Ha! Looks like I win again, boys."
"Yeah, yeah, don' get cocky, Jack. Someone still has quite the pile stacked over there."
"Who are you to talk, Milo, you don't! And for the first time in recorded history the great William Thatch has lost a damn poker game! Then again he was born a few years before they started recording history, so that isn't saying much."
"Oh shut up. I'm not that old. And I'm out, o -hic- okay? Ahh, god ma head hurts. It's gettin' late, I'ma get back 'for Nancy gets mad. Good thing I don' have ta drive."
"Maybe this shouldn't count guys. He wouldn't have lost if Jack hadn't brought the Vodka."
"Hey, I didn't want to share that in the first place! Bill provoked me into betting half the bottle!"
"How many times do I 'ave to tell you guys I'm...
"Uh-oh. I think he passed out.
"Crap, someone go call Nancy. Let's see if we can get him up the-"
"My name is B -hic- Billiam! Er, wait. No, that's not it. Ah, I don' care. Don' care about the game, or the talkin' or anything. Jack, you did good, playin' against ma weak -hic- nesses.
"Okay I'm leavin' now. Kick his arse for me, Vancy."
A few hands latter. The chips aren't changing...
"Man, I really didn't think Bill was going to make it up the stairs."
"Neither did I."
"Yeah. So, Vancy, how's Astrid been doing?
"Shut up, Will was thinking about getting home. And don't even try to distract me, it's not going to work."
"Jez, didn't even look up from the cards. Milo, you've been awful quiet over there. How are you doing?"
"... Fine."
"Come on, you can't be concentrating that hard. You don't have anything to bet with!"
"...Yeah."
"Hey, Mr. Talkative. Stop fooling around and play the game. I'm all in."
"Oh, looks like Vancy went and grew a pair. How much you got."
"Look at the piles, I've got more. There is no need to count them up. Are you in, or out?"
"Hold on a second lets see here. Pair of Threes on the board, one Jack, a seven and a King. I'll call, what have you got? I'm holding a full house. Three Jacks, two Threes. Those Jacks just love me, you know. They tell the other cards to play into my hand. That's why I always-"
"Sorry Jack. Four of a kind, Threes. I guess those Jacks just don't love you like they used to."