Midnight Creek Tales

#1. Cut The Deck / Chapter 3

A middle-aged Hispanic maid stood in the doorway with a cordial smile on her face. She invited Gerald in with a welcoming expression, and he gave her his coat and followed her into the mansion.

Looking around Gerald was genuinely amazed by the immaculate tapestry and design of the house and furniture. Everything looked so expensive and priceless.

Between the hand-carved wooden mahogany walls, a translucent rainbow waterfall raining down under the mirror-like floors, and one room having TVs substituting walls showed that Gerald was playing with the big boys tonight in the Taj Mahal 2.0!

Eventually, Gerald and the maid came to a long hallway that led into a dining room of some sort where Gerald now saw seven men smoking and drinking on the couch watching some late night television. Looking to his right, Gerald could see Charles setting up the game. "Oh, Mr. Counterferd you've arrived!" Charles said excitedly while turning around and starting to go on about Gerald's credentials as the best poker player.

"I tell you, this man is truly not an opponent to be taken lightly. Probably one of the best in the world, if I do say so myself!" Charles said boastfully.

Everything became quiet, and then one of the men stood up and looked at Gerald in the eyes. "Charles doesn't give out compliments like he does cards. So if he says you have the skills of a god, then we better listen."

This man assuredly seemed to be the owner of the mansion because he was wearing the most bling, with studded diamonds covering a pure-gold crucifix, clothes fit for the president himself, and the slickest hair Gerald had ever seen! He came over to Gerald and shook his hand with a firm hard grip. "The name's Antonio Vidal, and you must be the famous Gerald Counterferd everyone talks about in Vegas. A pleasure to meet a poker player of your caliber!"

Gerald smiled and followed Antonio to the couch where he could see the finest Cristal sitting upon the jade-encrusted coffee table. To his left, the bar flashed at him, and Gerald grabbed an empty glass. And to his right was a full box of Cuban imported cigars, he held one up to his nose and sniffed it as if it was the last cigar he'd ever smoke. Gerald was now comfortable and the men were eager to start playing.

"So gentlemen, now that we're all here let's get down to business. I can assume you came here for the same reason I am hosting this event, you all want to pocket some extra cash. Now, for this game we are going to be playing poker. I'm pretty sure everyone knows the rules, but to make sure that everybody can come up with the money I need everyone to empty their cash out onto the table where we are going to be playing. Charles will count the money and give you a total. Once he finishes, we will set up the chips and begin our game. So if everyone will just take out their amounts of cash, we can start the process and play a fair and intriguing game of poker."

Antonio lit a cigar and continued, "I think everyone knows each other. But we have a special guest tonight! His name is Gerald Counterferd, the poker legend we have all heard of."

Everyone looked at Gerald and smiled for the second time as if he was some celebrity. All of the men sitting there dressed in the fanciest clothes and bling were essentially bowing down to him.

Politely, Gerald approached every man there and began to shake their hands in a respectful manner. Getting on their good side was the first step when conning people out of their money.

They all introduced themselves to him, but for some reason, he forgot all of them literally after ten seconds of meeting them. The only person's name that stuck was Antonio's, which seemed to ring a bell with Gerald but he couldn't put the pieces together to remember where he had heard that name before. Gerald quickly dismissed the matter due to the fact that everyone was starting.