Chapter 15

"Poker, Plans, and Postcards"

July 5th 1988

The cards were worn so old they had turned yellow around the edges and had taken on a tint only two shades lighter than the yellowed corners. They snapped, buzzed, and swooshed as Brian cut them and shuffled them back together, the sounds they made echoed around the recreation room before dying in the hallway.

Jay was sitting across from him, his cheek was resting on his fist and his elbow rested on the table, a look of boredom was stitched on his face.

"I still don't see why you want to play for money," Jay said as he idly watched the cards split between Brian's hands like the Red Sea for Moses, then flow gracefully back together.

"It's either that, or we play for specimen cups," Brian said as he cut and shuffled the cards again.

Jay thought about that for a second, then looked at his pile of poker chips and asked, "What's the limit again?"

Brian smirked and dealt four cards, two for each of them, the first card face down, the second face up. He lifted his own cards and nodded to himself.

Jay looked at his cards and said, "Hit me."

Brian dealt him one card, a five, in addition to his showing five. Jay bet ten dollars, and Brian saw him his ten and raised twenty. They bet twice more before Brian said, "Call."

Jay flipped his card over to show it was a King, "Twenty."

Brian scratched his nose with the edge of the deck before setting it down and used the corner of his showing Queen card to flip the other one, reveling it to be the Ace of Spades, "Twenty one."

"Fuck!"

Brian laughed as he picked up his chips and shuffled the deck again. He dealt another hand and grinned, "You know the female subject?"

Jay looked at his cards carefully then picked up a chip, "I'll open for ten bucks. What about her?"

"She's learning. Quickly. Raise you three," Brian dropped his chips in the pile and dealt himself another card.

"I'll see your bet and raise you five. When do you think she can get out of here?" Jay asked, then looked at his cards, "Hit me."

Brian dealt him a card and tossed three chips into the pot, "I'll see your five, and raise you fifteen. It won't be for a few more years yet. I can't make the first move."

Jay dropped three chips and they hit the others with a plastic click-click-click, "Why not?"

"It's be too obvious. I spend a lot of time with her. If I was to smuggle her out of here on a phony pretence, they might get curious. I can't risk them coming after us once we're out. Raise ya one dollar."

A messenger dropped a postcard on the pile of poker chips and continued on his appointed rounds. Jay picked it up, glanced at the back, then handed it to Brian, "Gotta like a girl who gets right to the point."

Brian read the five words on the back of the card.

Thank you, Brian.

~ Faith Craft

Brian smiled to himself, that was all it said. He glanced at the postmark and saw it was from Houston Texas.

"Nothing like helping a friend, huh?" Jay asked with a smile.

"No. Nothing quite like it," Brian agreed, setting the postcard aside while looking at the picture.

"You know you saved her life, right?" Jay asked.

"I know."

"So why do you look so down and out?"

Brian sighed, leaned back in his chair, and scratched his stomach idly, "Because I'm just starting to realize that the one person I want to help more than anything else may be beyond my ability to heal."

"She ain't. You just gotta keep trying," he flipped his cards, "Eighteen."

Brian smiled at his friend and said; "Thanks," before flipping his cards, "Nineteen."

"Fuck!"