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He whistles "My sweet lord! You carry your bankroll on you Now I know that ain&039;t smart, no sir"

I flip open my wad of twenties Got them fro this What are you bet?ting?"

My question seeuard He asks with a trace of suspicion, "What do you want?"

"Oh Just a few friendly hints, what you offered Can you give me some of those? When I win I mean?"

He speaks with mock confidentiality "You don&039;t need theins to deal the cards "Sure, I&039;ll help you out Just don&039;t you get too rough on old Mike"

I throenty down "I&039;ll try to behavestrong, showing a ten He peeks at his hole card and grins By the rules, I know I should hit But I hate chasing a strong hand with so little roorin on his old lips

"Going to risk it?" he asks, teasing et a seven Twenty-two Bust I&039;et eleven, and he shows a six, the weakest card he can show By most house rules I am allowed to double down at this point But I ask if it is OK to be sure He nods, pleased to hit ets in my debt I lay another twenty beside my turned-over cards and he dealspretty"

"You are pretty, Sita," he says as he flips over his cards, showing a five, a total of eleven He draws and gets a ten, twenty-one, beating s to him

"Damn," I mutter

I lose the next six hands Every decision Iby the book The published rules say I should win about half the hands Yet I don&039;t think he is cheatingmy money He already has two hundred bucks, two-thirds of my bankroll If I don&039;t win soon I&039;ll have to walk

On the ninth hand he dealsonly a seven I have finally won

He offers me a twenty The aleaive me a tip," I say

"But you won Fate favored you, Sita, you didn&039;t have to do anything When a winning hand is coathers the cards together He is down to the bottoain He comments on the fact, as an aside "You know if this was a casino and I had myself a shoe, I could deal asWhat do you think of that?"

I go coels that force him and his mother to flee to the mirror in the sky, where shoes move without feet and the eht

Lake Tahoe, I remeinal Indians who lived in the area, because they had to hike up the e, clear lake, it looked to the the sky Also, there is a seous cove in the lake called Emerald Bay Finally, there are casinos nearby that have special shoes for playing twenty-one As we are playing twenty-one right now, only without one of those shoes that moves without feet

Kalika had a book on Lake Tahoe

Mike stares at me "Want to play another hand?"

I slowly shake my head "It&039;s not necessary, thank you"

He nods as he reads uess you&039;ll be on your way now I&039;ht eyes "Are you sorry, Mike?"

He shrugs "I know you have a job to do I don&039;t want to interfere with that none It&039;s just that I like it when you stop by, you know It re"

"I&039;ives me a wistful expression "Well, I sup?pose I do But I have to say you&039;re still a youngster tohim, and feel his bony ribs, his dirty clothes, and his love A powerful feeling sweeps over me, as if I have finally found acan last only so long He is right--I have a job to do Letting go, I cli hih I knoill not give ht answer

"Will you be here when I return?"

He scratches his head and takes a sip frohtly bewildered He quickly counts the money he has won and stuffs it in his coat pocket Then he coughs and looks up and down and street to see if anyone is listening Finally he looks at htly know I&039; to keep ain" He pauses "I like your spirit"

I lean over and kiss his forehead

"I like your spirit, Mike Be here for ain Please?"

He flashes a faint smile "I&039;ll see what I can do"