50 cards through the deck now, 25 rounds of War - and still neither Alfie the Mouth nor the Pine Bluff Kid had managed to gain the upper hand (ha ha). Eleven to Alfie, eleven to the Kid, and three draws left one round to decide the Super World Bowl Series Championship Cup of War. A crackle of excitment shot through the several dozen spectators gathered at the Angkor Wat Casino. Even the oversized plaster pseudo-Khmer statues seemed fixated on the action (if you were drunk enough, anyway).

The Kid flipped a hundred-dollar chip onto the table. "That's how we do it Arkansassy style, big mouth. Your bet." But Alfie, well...since his big wipeout against Sammy Kwo at the Cloaca Room two weeks back, Alfie'd had a little bit of a cash-flow problem. There was no way he could see the Kid's bet - but there was also no way he was going to punk out now, not after everything he'd gone through to get here. With a fortifying sigh, he gingerly placed his Polaroid i639B 6.0 Megapixel Digital Camera on the table.

If the rubes were excited before, this gambit spurred them into paroxysms of utter astonishment. Every last man jack of them knew the i639B, had heard tales of its 3x optical zoom and 2.4" LCD, treasured the legends of its self-timer and PictBridge capability. They knew it was worth far, far more than the Kid's hundred-dollar chip, maybe as much as 50% more. But the crafty Arkansan wasn't obliged to accept the bet. If he didn't, it was all over. The Kid would ride a river of champagne and silicone to ever-greater glories, while Alfie would probably be washing Sammy Kwo's car by this time next week.

"I accept the bet." Not even the Pine Bluff Kid could resist the bewitching Polaroid i639B. The dealer moved slowly, the burden of the moment heavy on his shoulders. The whole room took a collective breath as he fingered the last two cards, the two thin slips of plasticized cardstock upon whose slim edges rested the destinies of two men.

Then I had to go to the bathroom really bad, so I didn't see what happened next. Anyway, not a bad little camera, huh? Maybe you should buy one.

Back to top