Ten

Chapter Eight

Chapter Eight – Games

The night wore on for another hour or so and most of the conversations either died out or became noticeably quieter. Bibi was resting on one of the sofas when she heard Carl announce loudly, "Alright! Who's up for a serious game of cards?"

"Count me in," piped up a still sort of drunk Dominic.

"What about you guys?" he asked Chloe and Gabe.

"I could play a round or two," admitted Gabe, "What are you going to play?"

"Poker. Five card stud."

"Wanna play?" Gabe asked Chloe, "It's going to be a long night."

"Not usually, but I guess I could try," she smiled.

"Cool," Carl replied and then turned to Kelly, "Would the lovely Ms. Santos like to join us as well?"

"I've never been good at cards," she answered.

"But you can always try."

"I'm playing, Kelly," added Chloe.

"Okay, fine."

"Anyone else want to play?" asked Carl, "Detective? Counselor?"

"No thanks," grunted Robert.

"Five card stud?" Bibi answered, "Okay, I'm game."

Robert shot her a look of disapproval, but didn't verbally object. She winked at him and then left to move to the table near the center of the room. She took their earlier discussion seriously, but a card game was just the kind of distraction she needed. Besides, she could always learn more about her fellow guests if necessary.

"Count me in, too," a woman's voice called from behind Carl.

She turned and saw that it was Madeline, who had let her dark hair down and was walking over to the table where he was setting the game up.

"The more, the merrier," he smiled, checking her out a little.

"You got poker chips?" Gabe asked.

"Nope," Carl answered, "The son of a bitch gave us cards, but no chips."

"Then what are we going to use?"

"Strip poker?" smiled Dominic, "Ladies?"

Bibi sighed. That man is juvenile and disgusting.

"Uh, no thanks," Kelly replied.

"How about cash?" asked Carl.

Everyone else shrugged and agreed. It took a minute to get the chairs and everything together, but soon everyone was seated and Carl was dealing out cards.

"We'll skip the ante," Carl noted, "Since we're all short on bills. We'll start betting after you get your second card."

"I've only got a few twenties. How is this going to work?" asked Gabe.

Carl answered, "We'll just have to use the Massachusetts model."

"What's that?" inquired Bibi.

"A highly developed bartering system where personal effects stand in for cash until the end of the game," he pointed to a bracelet on her arm, "Any jewelry or clothing item we're wearing will stand in for a ten spot. We'll make ten bucks the minimum bet for each hand, and only let bets be in multiples of ten. We'll just keep trading cash for the whole time so everyone gets their stuff back, and the cash ends up in the right places. It's a very efficient system, and there usually aren't many IOU's at the end."