"See you," he said.
Goldstein showed his deuce of clubs.
"Yeah," Meyer said, and tossed in his cards.
"You should'a known all along he had it," Parker said, sweeping in the cards and beginning to shuffle.
"He didn't start raising till the fourth card," Meyer said in defense.
"What the, hell were you doing in the game, Gonsowski?"
This from Flannery, who was so far losing thirty bucks.
"I had two pair in the first four cards," Gonsowski said.
"You can shove two pair up your ass, a straight flush," Palladino said.
"He coulda been bluffing," Gonsowski said.
"You're still looking at aces over kings," Flannery said. "Meyer had you beat on the board."
"This is called Widows," Parker said, and began dealing.
"What the hell's Widows?" Palladino asked.
"A new game."
"Another crazy new game," Flannery said.
Neither of them enjoyed losing.
"What I do, I deal two extra hands ..."
"I hate these dumb crazy games," Flannery said.
"... face down. One of them has three cards in it, the other has five cards. Face down. Two hands, face down."
"Is this a five-card game?" Gonsowski asked.
"What the hell you think it is?" Palladino said.
"It could be a seven-card game, how do I know what it is? I never played it in my life. I never even heard of it till tonight."
"It stinks already," Flannery said.
"Two hands face down," Parker said. "They're called
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widows, the hands. One, two, three," he said, dealing, "that's the first widow . . . and one, two, three, four, five," still dealing, "that's the second widow."
"Why're they called widows?"
"I don't know why. That's what they're called, and that's the name of the game. Widows."
"I still don't get it," Gonsowski said. "What's the basic game here?"
"Five-card stud," Parker said, dealing all around the table now. "One card down, four up, we bet after each card."
"Then what?" Meyer asked.
"After the third card, if you don't like your hand, you can bid on the three-card widow. Whoever bids highest, the money goes in the pot, and he tosses in his hand and gets a whole new hand, those three cards in the widow."
"Sounds shittier and shittier every minute," Palladino said.
"It's a good game," Parker said, "wait and see."
"What about that other hand?" Goldstein asked. "The five-card hand?"
"Well," Parker said, beaming like a magician about to pull a rabbit from a hat, "after the fifth card is dealt, if you still don't like your hand, you can bid on that second widow, and if you're the highest bidder, you get a whole new /ive-card hand."
"You serving drinks here?" Flannery asked, "or did Prohibition come back?"
"Help yourself, it's in the kitchen," Parker said. "Rudy, you're high."
Gonsowski looked around the table, surprised that his eight of diamonds was high on the board.
"I need both those other hands," Meyer said.
"Widows," Palladino said sourly.
"Another dumb game," Flannery said.
"Relax," Goldstein said. "It'll come and go in the night."
"Like all the others," Palladino said sourly.
"Bet fifty cents," Gonsowski said.