Free Ravens by George Dawes Green Page B

tickets. The day we won.”
    “Oh. Well then, how come he doesn’t get half the jackpot?”
    “He does. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Are you listening?”
    Finally Nell looked up. “You’re saying what?”
    Do not lower your eyes.
“Shaw gets half of everything.”
    Nell’s gaze narrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me that before?”
    “Because Dad didn’t tell
us
. He was afraid Mom’d be mad.”
    “I
bet
she’s mad. I bet she’s screaming her head off.”
    “Well. She is. But fair is fair.”
    If it’s to save her life, it’s not really a lie.
    “Well,” said Nell, “if your mom ain’t mad, I am. You’re telling me we’re only
half
-gazillionaires?” She turned to Shaw. “
You
get the rest?”
    He said, “I’m sorry.”
    “You little punk. I already had that half-gazillion
spent
. I was gonna buy Brunswick — turn the whole town into my private putt-putt course. You like putt-putt golf? Wait, you gotta
     see my polar bear.”
    The bear was on top of her refrigerator. When Nell switched it on, it swung a golf club and sang, “It Don’t Mean a Thing If
     It Ain’t Got That Swing.” Shaw chuckled. Nell exploded with laughter. Then she shuffled the cards and dealt out a hand.
    “I’m winning it back right now,” she announced. “All of it. Every penny you stole from us. How much was that again?”
    Shaw coughed and murmured, “Um. Pre-tax? Something like. A hundred fifty-nine million?”
    “Well, get ready to lose it.”
    She bluffed right out of the gate. Tara had an ace showing and another ace in the hole, so she stayed with Nell’s bets for
     two more rounds, and even drew a third ace. But when Nell threw forty dollars into the pot, Tara figured her for a straight,
     and folded. Nell raked in. Shooting Tara a sharp critical look. Tara knew she was in trouble. She was playing too timidly.
     Was she playing so timidly that Nell would guess something was wrong?
    Shaw said, “You ladies mind if
I
play a little bit here?”
    Said Nell, “Not at all. I’m waiting for you. Every last penny.” She slapped the deck down. “Your deal.”
    As he dealt, he started talking. He called the hands as they developed. “Jack, possible straight. Eights a pair. Oh, look,
     I got three diamonds showing. My flush is in plain view. Well, I might as well bet it big and hope you’ll think I’m bluffing.”
    He threw in five dollars, and Nell folded and Tara did too, and he laughed and tried to bully the next hand as well. Nell
     caught him that time, and burned him. But he didn’t back off. As the hands went by, he kept coming. Tara could see what he
     was up to. He was covering for her. While she regained her balance, he was distracting Nell, drawing her away from the truth
     — the way a bird draws predators from the nest. He kept guffawing and gesturing and holding forth: “Doesn’t anybody notice
     I have two cowboys
showing
? I got a posse over here! You don’t hear the thundering hooves?”
    He lost twenty on that hand.
    Nell dealt the next one. He complained, “Gimme some
cards,
will you? Deal me something for once that isn’t crap? Pardon my French.”
    Nell, on her third Madeira by now, said: “You take what you get! You get the three of spades!”
    The two of them barking, baiting each other, laughing. Tara tried her best to laugh with them — which got a little easier
     as the Madeira flowed. She started to relax a little.
    Then Shaw leaned toward her, pretending to look at her cards, and she snapped, “You cheater!” — and this came out sounding
     playful.
    She noticed that Nell was eyeing her and Shaw. Checking out the chemistry.
    As though there might be some kind of romance brewing.
    And Tara realized she had found the perfect mask. If she were sweet on Shaw it would explain everything. Her nerves, her stilted
     laughter, the mousiness of her game. Everything could be chalked up to a new and sticky-sweet infatuation. So on the very
     next hand, when Shaw was about to