You give me a dollar I shrugged Fair enough The game was going well All clear he said dropping back behind the couch He cupped the dice C’mon Twelve twelve He rolled there was the six There was another six Twelve he said Was he catching on I reluctantly pulled out the coins he’d given me and let them fall through my fingers Hey he whined scrambling to pick them up This is what you gave me for a dollar I said Ninety-six cents He blinked at me I’m being generous I went on You still owe me a dollar A whole dollar He surrendered with a grunt My turn So far it was working better than I’d thought I could always or nearly always count on one die coming up six All I had to do was guess on the other one More often than not I got it right How long it took my opponent to suspect was the only risk involved That and Dad catching me Nine I said and rolled
Eight A six and a two Ha said the kid and stuck out his hand Nope You keep your dollar remember He frowned tilting his head Hurry I said We don’t have all night He snatched up the dice pretended to spit on them and said Four I smiled to myself So he wasn’t catching on after all He rolled Four it was two twos Leaning over I adjusted my glasses and inspected the dice It was a four he challenged Like I said I know I spun one die around the black spot was still intact I fingered the other one Hand it over he said his nostrils flaring Now we’re even I explained You owed me one His frown returned Doubt was ticking away in his head Maybe I’d underestimated him Maybe it was time to quit I picked up the dice and plunged them into my pocket I felt the money there I’d never make godzillions at this game but two dollars were better than nothing And I knew what nothing was The kid finally said How do the rules go As luck would have it Dad called out my name
Katlin I jumped up He and Dillon were standing beyond a spittoon and some potted ferns Dad hadn’t seen me yet but Dillon good brother had He doesn’t miss a thing Kat he said Let’s go The kid said to me Wait Here Dad I said crawling over the couch Wait It’s not fair The kid started pulling my shoe the one with the floppy sole Dad looked in our direction Hotel guests looked in our direction A walrus of a woman draped in fur and holding a little dog looked in our direction Lucas she bellowed Lucas no wonder he hadn’t told me his name let go of my shoe I tumbled off the couch got to my feet and with Lucas trotting behind went to Dillon and Dad Lucas went to the woman who apparently was his mom and said I gave her some money to fix her old shoe What I blurted The woman patted his head Good boy To us she said proudly He’ll make a great philanthropist He’ll make a great liar I muttered tugging Dad’s arm for us to go The woman blinked at me from behind her tortoiseshell
glasses while her silky little dog who wore a gold-and jeweled collar that read duchess yip-yipped Katlin said Dad as he headed us toward the stairs what were you doing behind that couch I know what she was doing said Dillon I glared arrows and other projectiles at him Did he give you money asked Dad Um not exactly Kat we’re not beggars We’re not subject to charity Somebody’s got to make money in this family haven’t they I said it loud enough to put Dad on the spot which wasn’t difficult considering he’d been developing this guilt fret for a long time and considering several ears were aimed our direction Hush he said Up the stairs we went I’M REALLY NOT THAT KIND OF PERSON TO embarrass my dad in public But I didn’t want to give the money back or part with my dice and I could see it was coming to that We hadn’t always been poor We used to have two cars that were nice and new
