Don't Owe You Anything

If she could, she would walk west forever just to chase the sunset. But, she had a bike, so she rode, and, unfortunately, there’s only so much road before it turns to sea.

At the cliff of dusk, she parked her motorcycle in front of a small seaside bar, Hard Luck, and limped coolly inside. Under the red and blue lights of this neon saloon, shining off the old polished wood, she was inevitably subjected to the stares from the dozen or so patrons, who gaze and grill at her as if they’ve never before seen an aged woman so statuesque and so—her poise and pace suggested power.

“We need another player,” a shrill voice rasped as she walked towards the bar counter. “You know how to play poker?”

Interested, she obliged and bought drinks for the table of four. The shrill, raspy voice came from a tiny, mischievously-austere, cunning-eyed woman about our hero’s age, in her late-50’s or early-60’s. Judging by the gaudy diamond ring on her ring finger, she must have been married. On her right was a hulking, heavier man with a dedicated white handlebar mustache, a stetson hat atop his pink face, and a fancy watch suffocating his left wrist. Opposite him was a young woman in a business suit.

Our hero seated herself in between these latter two players. “What’s your name?” the matriarch asked our hero.

Jade Rock smiled and exhaled a laugh through her nose. “Do I have to give you my name?”

“So this is how you play, is it?” remarked the professionally-dressed young woman to her right. “Close to the heart.”

“That’s fine,” the matriarch smirked. “We’re all having fun here.”

So they did, so much so that by the last hand, when they were the only patrons left in the saloon, there was $5000.00 in the pot. Jade Rock and the two players beside her were all-in. In the river was a nine of clubs, a Queen of diamonds, a Queen of clubs, an eight of hearts, and an eight of clubs. Two more eights stare back at Jade Rock. It’s not the best possible hand, but it’s better than any hand previously played this night. There was no chance the man and the young woman had a ten and Jack of clubs or the two other Queens, not the way they’ve been playing. And, after all, she can afford to lose.

Only the matriarch, who had been blessed with consistently high combinations, had any chips left, but she had still yet to—

“I call.” She cautiously pushed the rest of her pile of chips into the pot, now totalling $8000.00.

“Alright,” Jade Rock announced, prepared to throw her cards on the table. “Let’s see ‘em—”

“Wait.” The matriarch nodded her head at the hand of the man, who lazily leered back down at her from the shadow of his hat’s brim. “I like your watch. Why don’t you throw it in the pot for, say…” Now making eye contact with the man, the matriarch cocked her head at an angle, held up her left hand, and tapped at her ring finger with her thumb.

Inebriated, the empty armour of a man wordlessly undid his watch’s clasp and slid the luxury timepiece into the middle of the table.

The younger woman scoffed. “You’ve got to be kidding. That’s probably not even a real diamond ring.”

“I can guarantee you that it’s real.”

“You’re bluffing.”

“I don’t bluff.”

“Well, we wouldn’t know, would we?”

“I can check,” offered Jade Rock. Grinning gloatingly, the matriarch slips off the ring and drops it into the outstretched hand of Jade Rock, who examines the stone with one eye open.

“Are you a jeweler, there, friend?” the matriarch interrogated.

“No.”

“It’s just there are a lot of Asian jewelers in California.”

Holding out the ring towards the matriarch, Jade Rock stated, “It’s real. It’s not the highest-quality, but it’s a diamond.”

“You can put it in the pile.” And so, it was carefully placed on the peak of the pot.

A little black book was slapped onto the table. “I’m in,” declared the younger woman.

The matriarch sneered. “What is that? That had better be a chequebook with—what—” She looked at Jade Rock.

“Six-thousand—”

“Six-thousand dollars in it.”

“Oh, it’s worth more than that,” assured the younger woman. “I was offered ten-thousand for this.”

“That’s already more than the ring and that entry-level Tag Heuer watch combined,” remarked Jade Rock. “You sure you want to do that?”

The book was flicked closer towards the pot.

“Wait a minute,” the matriarch scrutinized, “what’s actually in that thing?”

“It’s a secret.” The younger woman looked down at her cards. “If I tell you, it’ll lose its value.”

“What the hell does that even mean—”

“There’s nothing in there that could be worth more than the information I used to see on a regular day,” Jade Rock interjected.

The matriarch raised two fingers off the table and cocked her head at Jade Rock. “What is it you do for a living there, friend?”

Jade Rock smiled. “I live.”

“And before that?”

“CEO. Of an investment firm.”

A sudden snort came from the younger woman.

“But,” Jade Rock continued, “you have no reason to believe me. I could have been a gang member before that. I don’t owe you my life story.”

The younger woman raised her eyebrows. “Playing it close to the heart.”

“Good to know,” murmured the matriarch, “but we still need to know what’s in that book. If you don’t tell us, you’ll just have to put something else in the pot.”

Scrutinizing the younger woman now was the glimmer, a ghostly glint of light from under the shadow of the man’s hat, studying her mannerisms like the eyes of an antique portrait.

“Fine,” the younger woman complied. “It’s a film script.”

Disappointed silence from the two older women replaced the anxious anticipation.

“A script.”

“Has it been bought yet?”

“No, just—just an offer.” The younger woman still stared at her cards.

“Of just ten-thousand?” Jade Rock whispered.

“Is that good?” The matriarch was curious.

As if blinded by shame, the younger woman seemed to be able to lower her gaze even more. “I couldn’t afford a lawyer or an agent or an accountant to help with, you know, negotiating a better deal.”

“How much do scripts usually go for?”

“About six figures,” answered Jade Rock.

The matriarch whistled. “Is your story even good, honey?”

Before the younger woman could indignify herself with a reply, Jade Rock offered, “Keep the script. I’ll spot you the other six-thousand. Just pay me back my investment if you win.”

“I can’t do that,” the younger woman sniffed. “I need the full twenty. I’m late on my rent, I’m about to get evicted, I’m lifetimes in debt, I have three kids to feed, I don’t have a partner or parents to help, I owe—”

“Hold on there, honey,” the matriarch interrupted. “What you mean to tell me is that you bet the only $2000.00 you did have and your life’s work worth $10,000.00.”

Smiling sadly, the younger woman waved her red cards like autumn leaves in a slow breeze. “That’s how good my hand is.”

For a second, Jade Rock studied the younger woman. Then, she sighed. “Well, there’s no going back now.” She reached into her pocket for her motorcycle’s key and threw it into the pile. “I was going to buy a new one anyway, and I was in search of a good story. Looks like I found it.”

“Are we ready?”

“No reason to wait.”

“Let’s see ‘em.”

The man unfolded his cards firstd: a ten of hearts and a Jack of spades; a straight. The matriarch laughed gleefully: a seven and ace of clubs; a flush.

“This was a tough deal,” she cackled, standing up to collect her winnings. “That was a close one.”

Without a word, a smile, or a nod, the man left the table coolly, his haunting hellish headlight eyes shining at Jade Rock.

“Well, I assume that since you ladies aren’t staking your claim that I had the best hand—”

“I don’t know about her,” Jade Rock flipped over her eight of diamonds and eight of spades, “but I don’t think you did.”

All but the smile, which melted into a gaping frown, on the matriarch froze.

Turning to the younger woman, Jade Rock asked, “And you?”

With the same sad smile on her face and without looking away from her cards, she turned over her first card. A Jack of clubs. Jade Rock smirked.

Then the other card. A four. It didn’t matter what suit it was. She had—

“Nothing.”

Jade Rock’s smirk soured into a scowl. She began pocketing the $6000.00 ring—the matriarch slumped onto her chair—the $6000.00 watch, and the $8000.00 of cash.

Last, Jade Rock picked up the keys to her bike. “It was a pleasure. Best of luck to you both.”

At the bar counter, she paid for the table’s drinks, as was the etiquette for these kinds of games, and exited the Hard Luck bar, leaving the chips, the matriarch, the young woman, and the little black book still sitting on the table.