The Road
901 Words
Francis and Nero were playing cards. The game was fairly easy.
They would take turns deciding whether the next card would be higher or lower than the one the dealer had placed. The game was played in pairs, that way the dealer was never your partner. The pair that was not dealing would be the ones that decide to go higher or lower. Everyone would get a chance to deal, and to call the cards.
The card on display was a six. They chose to go higher, as probability would lean towards higher, and they won. A ten was the card that was presented. The men they were gambling against lost a third of their gold. Math is a powerful weapon.
A crowd had started to gather.
“How about one more game. This time, we bet all of it, for all of yours and that which you have won” one of the men said.
“I am sorry, old man, but we have no interest in such boorish gambles,” said Nero.
“Even if you are betting all of the gold, we are looking for thrill, old man, not money,” said Francis.
“Then what do you want?” said the other man.
“How about this, since we want to make it interesting, let us bet our lives. If we lose, we will willingly become your slaves” Francis said.
The crowd fell silent.
“And what if you win?” asked the men.
“You must always pay for our drinks at bars,” said Nero.
“That’s it?” said the man.
“That is all” said Francis.
“So how about it? It is your turn to choose, so we will deal” said Nero.
The trick was fairly simple. Nero and Francis would constantly go to any bar to get drinks and they would resell it at a lower price. Nero and Francis would get an infinite number of drinks for free and could sell them easily because they were selling it at a low price. It was an easy way to make money. They would make sure these men would go into so much debt they could not afford their own skin.
Nero and Francis had forced these men to bet their lives without them realizing it.
They were making them feel safe. That was one of the ways of getting the other person to lower their guard.
And so, Francis started to deal. The card that appeared was a queen. The men almost felt bad for the kids. There were only two cards that could beat the queen, the king and the ace.
They obviously chose to go lower.
Francis started to shuffle the deck. He slowly and very dramatically pulled out the card that would decide their fate.
The crowd shuffled uneasily.
A king of spades.
The crowd was baffled.
Nero’s tension fell out of his shoulder, and he started laughing.
“It seems like lady Luck likes handsome people,” said Nero.
The men did not fell antagonism towards the kids. After all, they thought that they would only have to buy them some drinks.
“Everyone here is getting a drink on these men! We must celebrate this miracle!” claimed Francis.
The men’s jaws dropped. The crowd was on the kid’s side, so running away would not be a smart idea. These people would also track them down. The kids had made the crowd side with them. This way, the men could not just run away.
But there was one more thing missing. Maybe today, these men would pay to ensure that they were not lynched by the crowd, but there was no insurance that they would pay forever.
But something went terribly wrong.
A girl with long, black hair and amber eyes got close to the men.
“Mmmm, what are the chances of that happening three times?” said the girl.
“Three times?” asked the men.
The crowd went silent again.
Nero and Francis looked at each other again. Their expressions were saying the same thing to each other.
Shit.
“Oh yes, this happened three times to them today, only at different places and with different people,” said the girl.
The men looked at the duo and one of the men grabbed Francis’s hand. After a quick search, they found the hidden two in his sleeve.
A two of diamonds? But the kids put a king of spades? Before their little minds could comprehend that the king had been on the other sleeve, and they had a two in case they chose higher, Nero punched the man holding Francis in the face and started to run away.
Francis, now free, proceeded to run in the other direction.
The men, now confused, decided to secure their money first.
But, much to their surprise, their money and winnings were gone.
The girl had taken it while the men were busy with the kids. They started to search the crowd for whoever had taken it, but to no avail. Nobody had even seen the girl take it. They had been distracted by the boys.
After a couple of hours, Francis and Nero met again, this time, the duo was with the last partner, the girl that had stolen the money.
“You need to work on your timing Życie” said Francis.
- Writer
