The Gambler

THE GAMBLER


“Okay,” I said, sitting down on the hard plastic chair and looking straight at her. “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do.”

She didn’t say anything, but I knew she was listening.

“I have a deck of cards here.” I held up the unopened pack, fresh out of the gift shop, the price tag still attached. “Now, you know I’m crap at cards. It’s always been more your thing. But let’s even the odds here, okay? Let me propose a very simple game.”

There was no protest from her, so I continued to unwrap the plastic, tossing it aside and shaking out the cards, keeping my voice steady and calm. “Okay, the game. I’m going to shuffle these cards, and you’ll watch me so you know I can’t cheat. Then we’re going to cut the deck. Each person gets a card. Obviously, the winner with the higher card wins, yeah?” I set about to do just that, clumsily shuffling the deck and cursing to myself as a few cards slid out and fluttered to the floor. Picking them up, I tried my best to stop my hands from fumbling, but it was hard, considering the situation I was in.

Finally, I felt reasonably assured that the deck was properly shuffled. What she didn’t know, however, was that I had deliberately kept most of the higher cards in the top half, and the lower cards were in the bottom. Still, what she didn’t know wouldn’t kill her. Not yet, at least.

“Okay.” I took a deep breath, looking straight at her. “Ready?”

Silence, which I took to be better than a straight out, “No.”

I reached out to pick my card first, trying to ignore how my hand was shaking. I picked as close to the top as possible, and was relieved when I came up with the Jack of Spades. Setting down the card, I looked at her and sighed.

“That’s a tough one to beat,” I said. “So let’s draw your card now.”

The unspoken stakes hung in the air between us, and I fought to hold my breath as I picked her card from the bottom deck. The Ace of Hearts glared back at me, red and silent. For the life of me I couldn’t remember if an ace was supposed to be the lowest or highest number in the deck.

“Well.” I shook my head, then began to laugh, ignoring the desperate edge in it. A passing nurse gave me a strange stare, but I couldn’t be bothered. It didn’t matter how much I cheated at cards – she was still stuck in that hospital bed, her face slack in an almost-permanent sleep, all the plastic tubes running out of her like her veins were trying to run away from their own body.

“I won.” I tossed aside the useless Jack of Spades, staring down at the red Ace instead. “The deal was that if I won, you would wake up.” I raised my head to look at my wife, but only the heartbeat monitor beeped in response, and it was only then that I realised while I may have won at cards, I had lost a much bigger game instead.

THE END