Pale Carnations -ch. 4 Update 4- -mutt Jeff- ... -

He flipped the top card from the deck. The Ace of Spades.

He held out the deck of cards to me. “Pick one.”

“Go on,” he said. “Let’s see if you’ve got your father’s luck.” Pale Carnations -Ch. 4 Update 4- -Mutt Jeff- ...

I didn’t move.

“Both.”

“Your little blonde,” Jeff continued, tapping the photograph with a yellowed nail, “she crawled. Fastest I’ve ever seen. Didn’t even make her beg. She just… folded. Like a paper hat in the rain.” His eyes flicked up to mine, and for a moment, the showman’s mask slipped. Beneath it was something hollow. Hungry. “That’s the part they never put in the contracts. The folding.”

End of Scene.

“She’s asking about the fourth round,” I said. “The private exhibition. The one not on the club’s books.”