Once A Gambler. Carrie Hudson

Or you’ll be pickin’ Mississippi mud from between yer teeth before the night’s out.”

      

      THREE QUEENS.

      A beatable hand, to be sure. But he’d had worse. Jake eyed Bill Jackson as he lowered the corner of his hand back to the table. A man of the cloth, Jackson was well-known to be one of the best gamblers on the circuit and regularly won big pots. His religious affiliation had no apparent influence on his penchant for gambling, nor on his ability to hold his liquor, both of which he’d consumed enthusiastically tonight. In fact, Jake knew, it wasn’t usually until his fifth whiskey that the “tell” he normally kept under wraps became apparent. At least, apparent to Jake.