That night she headed back to the factory. She knew he would probably be there, but she
couldn't stay away from the game. She
peaked in the same window as before and searched for the short dark haired
boy. She sighed with relief as she saw
no sign of him. She slipped inside and
found a seat behind an older boy with an eye patch. She watched him win almost every hand in the game. When he stood up, she made her move.
"Hey, I saw
you play. You're pretty good. Think you could gimme some advice?" Lorraine casually asked.
"Me?" The boy with the eye patch looked
confused. "You should ask Race. He's the best. I just had some good luck, finally." The boy started to walk away.
"Wait! Where is Race? Do you think he would teach me?" Lorraine called after him. The
boy scanned the room quickly.
"Race ain't
heah yet."
"Then, can
you show me a few things till he gets here?" I pleaded with him.
"Fine," he
sighed, finally giving in. "I'm Kid
Blink. You gotta name?"
"Bam," Lorraine said the first thing that popped
into her head and was kicking herself for saying such a stupid name.
"What kinda
name is Bam?" Blink looked amused.
"What kinda
name is Kid Blink?" she retorted. He shrugged and motioned for her to follow
him. He sat her down in a corner and
started teaching her the basics of poker. She got so involved in it that she didn't hear the door open, but Blink
did.
"Race is
heah, you should ask him ta teach ya da rest," Blink stood up.
"Where is
he?" Lorraine asked. She didn't see anyone
new in the room. Blink pointed to the
boy he was calling Race. "Oh shit." She
immediately recognized the dark haired boy he was pointing to. She tried to hide her face, but Race caught
a glance of her.
"Hey
Blink! Get away from dat goil!" Race yelled. "She's prolly trying ta steal yer money right now!" Blink turned to Lorraine and gave her a
questioning look. She shrugged. Race came over and told Blink about how they
had met. The whole time, Lorraine shot
dirty looks at Race. He's so annoying,
she thought. When he was finished with
his story, he gave her a smug look, which made her want to kill him. Blink checked his pockets and found all his
money still there.
"Maybe you
should leave." Blink offered in an
unsympathetic tone. "B'fore ya steal
money from some odda kid dat can't afford it." The two boys lead her outside and slammed the door behind her. Great, now what the hell am I gonna do, she
asked herself. She wandered until she
came across a small pub. It was the
only place she had passed that was still open that late at night, so she went
inside to warm up. Remembering that she
still had four dollars from the track, she ordered a coffee at the bar. She sipped her coffee and glaced around the
dark pub. She noticed a group of young
men sitting around a table in the back. Her eyes lit up as she recognized the game they were playing. Blink hadn't taught her everything, but it
was enough for her to look like she knew what she was doing. She sauntered over, trying to look sexy instead
of like a street rat.
"Mind if I
play?" she asked with a flirtatious giggle. She flipped her long, dull blond hair over her shoulder. The men looked her over and apparently
approved of her. They motioned for her
to sit down. Soon she was dealt into
the game. She played for a half hour
and lost all but fifty cents of her money. "Well, its been fun, boys," she said casually. She didn't want them to know she had just lost all her
money. She hurried out of the pub.
"Damn it!"
she hated herself for losing her money again. She was just no good at that damn game. She curled up in a door stoop and tried to sleep, thinking about giving
the racetrack another try tomorrow.