a clairvoyant, too." The image faded.

"See what I mean?" I said shakily to Shari. "They sure talk a
good game. I didn't tell a soul I was coming here. How'd they
catch me?"

"Occam's razor," she said. "How many wrong numbers did they try
first? Come back to earth!"

"That snake Lefty still worries me," I admitted, going to the
door. "Shari, I know I've acted nuts, but they nearly got me to
flip! Thanks for helping me. I couldn't have stood it to know I
was a snake. You got my mind back on the track again."

"Not enough to keep from going right back to the poker table,"
she observed.

There didn't seem any point to telling her how badly I needed the
dough. Anyway, I had to prove a point. I was a Normal. I left.

* * * * *

There were already seven at the table when I got to Nick's after
dinner. He didn't want to deal me in.

"Seven's a full table, huh, Tex?" he said.

"Not for stud, it isn't," I told him. "You can deal to ten
gamblers."

"Dealer's choice tonight," he protested, while some of the
gamblers eyed me curiously. "Can't deal to more than seven for
three-card draw."

"I told you where I stood on this thing last night," I snapped.

"All right," Nick said warmly. "So maybe I'd like the whole stink
to cool down a little, huh?"

"Not with my dough in it, Nick!" I told him, being pretty free
with something I didn't have much of any more. "You'll deal me in
tonight or I'll find another banker!"

A gink with a long, scrawny neck put down his highball and rose
from the table. "Gosh, fellows," he said. "I'm sort of a fifth
wheel around here, I guess. Here, neighbor," he insisted. "Take
my place." He was all grins and teeth and bobbed his head around
with a rural awkwardness.

"You don't have to do that, Snead," Nick started to say.

"Just as soon kibitz," he insisted, drawing up a chair behind me
as I took his seat. "You don't mind, neighbor?" he asked
anxiously. I shook my head and yanked out my much-depleted wallet
to pay for chips. It took all that the Lodge hadn't.

Four hands were enough. On the first, at stud, I had aces back to
back and picked up a pair of sevens on the next two cards. Two
pair, aces high, will win about ninety-nine out of a hundred stud
hands. I chewed down on the panetella in my teeth and bet them
like I had them. The tilt of my cigar showed just a little too
much confidence as a way to convince some of the gamblers that I
was bluffing. I