Gone to see the world.

Well that’s it, I’m tired of this town and every two-bit four-flusher in it. I am especially tired of my pa telling me I can’t go see the world. If you are a friend to me and LJ, drop me a line and I will get back to you after I’ve had an adventure or two.
Ciao
Mabel

Just in the nick o' time!

I snuck up to "Scott's" bathroom tonight and put together a card tower with the dead man's hand at the top. I figured it was now or never, because I heard some people complaining about the out of order bathroom on the second floor. Maintenance around these parts is slow but I knew they'd get up there eventually. It was nerve wracking and the tower fell apart several times, but I felt something blow past me when it was complete, like a sweet spring wind. Yeehaw! I high tailed it away just in the nick of time as Scott came out of the bathroom for the last time. Poor boy looked powerful confused, but it looks like everything's okay and the game can continue! I just hope that dang chip doesn't go haywire on us again.

I never expected that!

I thought papa’s poker chip, the chip that put him in the mayor’s seat (if his journal has the straight story) would give Scott enough luck to advance in the tournament. Instead, it put him in no fit state to compete!

Like I said before, I snatched the chip from its hiding place in the Lucky Jack room. I didn’t want to get too close to Scott, he still gives me the stink-eye whenever he sees me and won’t talk to me. I’ve always been good at getting a flipped coin to go right where I aim it. I flicked it right at his back pocket but as it sailed through the air the chip turned all sorts of funny colors. It went right where I sent it, but it seemed to hit poor Scott something fierce. It’s like he got lassoed onto a bucking bronco of time!

He was coming out of the toilet, you see, and now he walks two steps out of the bathroom and then seems to “rewind” back into that room. There’s a pause and then he opens the door and does it again. It’s always the same, right down to the toilet paper stuck to the bottom of his shoe! Luckily the sawbones lives nearby. I was able to persuade him to let me borrow a privacy curtain and fixed it up in front of the bathroom with an “out of order” sign. At first I thought that would be enough, but doubt settled in… What if Robert Baron himself peeked behind that curtain? I’m not proud of this, but I spied a firehose one floor down, and I turned it on. No one noticed what was happening until the water started to spill in the playing area. I quite flooded the bottom floor, and now they have to postpone the game for a few days until they dry the place out. Everyone evacuated so I don’t think anyone will be exploring up there… but that doesn’t save Scott!
I don’t have anyone to turn to so I tried to grab the coin out of Scott’s pocket. I couldn’t do it! I felt like I was pressing against glass, and I saw something. It was all hazy, like I was watching a half-tuned television station, and I saw a man’s hand holding up all five fingers spread wide and then I heard the same voice that spoke to me when I tried to pull the chip out of its hiding place!

“I am confused. Create order from chaos!” It told me. I think I need to show it something, but I’m not sure what! Can someone tell me, or better yet, give me something to show it?

I have the chip.

Thank you all kindly for helping me find it. Once I knew it was in the Lucky Jack room I quickly found it. It’s good to know that papa has a fondness for using loose floorboards to hide things. I must say, picking it up was a queer affair. At first I couldn’t. I could see that little hundred dollar chip down under the floor, but a powerful strange feeling stole over me when I reached down to pick it up. I heard a voice in my head, clear as day.

“Show me Lucky Jack.”

Well… who doesn’t know who lucky Jack is? That’s papa, that’s what the man called him after he won his first big game that started us on the road to Parare! Lucky Mabel, there was a picture of papa on the wall. (I s’pose the room was themed for couples who like to be watched by famous poker players? Sometimes I think Ben is a mite touched.) I waved the picture over the chip, because what else is a girl to do? I heard that voice again.

“Lucky Jack!”

And then I remembered the real the story. Papa likes to tell people that McCall called him “Lucky Jack!” because he drew the jack needed to end a straight flush. That’s a little bit of a fib on his part. McCall was bluffing, and he really said “You’re lucky king my stayed buried in the deck, Jack!” He was bluffing four of a kind, and daddy had a full house! I dipped into my lucky pack of cards. I really wanted Scott to have it, but some things are not to be. I pulled out the missing king, spades, and put it up against the picture.

I felt something move in the air in front of me, and I knew then I could pick up the chip. I’ve got it, now, and there is definitely something odd about it. Now I just have to slip it to Scott before the game at five and he should be fine.

Helping Scott

So I’ve been thinkin. What kinda poker shark gets himself locked in a bathroom?

The kind that ain’t no poker shark at all, I’m thinking. But I don’t, I can’t just go back and apologize now. He hates me, I’m sure. I was talking to Tom the barman this morning, and he said that Scott had such a fire in his eyes. He said some dreadful things about me. He called me… well, I deserved it, for not trusting him like that.

In my defense, papa always said that I shouldn’t trust men from the outside world. They’re all sharks, he said. But… that can’t all be true can it? It can’t be true of everyone, everywhere. It can’t be true for Scott. He even said, when he was full of drink and could barely stand, that he’d win the poker tournament. Not to win my hand but to show us he’s good by handing the mayorship right over to papa.

That sweet man. But he is so terrible at the cards. I want to help him win, I think he deserves it, but I know some four year olds that could beat him! But… Papa has a poker chip, a lucky chip that I’ve seen him put in his breast pocket and win whenever he wanted to. A lucky chip! He always hides it away, but I went through his safe and I found the journal page he uses to remind himself where it is. Can you help me figure this out? I fear poor Scott is going to leave a Parare a broken man if we don’t help him.

What have I done?

Oh no, I fear that I have let my anger get away from me. What if he wasn’t a conman at all? And even if he is, he is representing papa in the tournament, and if he loses those other men will finally take control. I can’t let that happen, but I can’t get back into the tournament. Scott has to win, no matter what.
Oh, I wish I had someone to talk to, someone that could help me make sure that Scott wins.

If he wasn’t lying… he is a truly dreadful poker player.

Lying, cheating, son of a gun!

I can’t believe I got taken in by that lying, cheating, no good, accountant!

I helped that little snake in the grass, I taught him the rules of the game, and I get stabbed in the back for my trouble. I can’t believe I was so blind to his sweet talk that I sacrificed my position in the tournament to make sure he got a good standing.
And there he was afterwards talking and laughing with that other out-of-town woman afterwards, and I heard him say that he was going to take this town for all it’s worth! I head him say that, right in front of everyone. Well I could not stand for someone coming in to clean out my town! I read that two-bit con man the riot act he got paler and paler as I told him there’s no way that I’d let him tear this town apart. He knew I had seen right through his lies, and all he could do was sputter and make lame excuses. Ohhh, I was just so angry that I turned my back on him and left him standing there with all the other snakes!

That did not go how I expected.

Papa did not approve of Scott. Papa thinks that anyone who doesn’t know the cards couldn’t be a real enough man for his daughter! I tried to tell him, I know the cards, isn’t that enough. Scott knows all sorts of other things, and he’s a real man! I had to poke Scott to get him to stand up for himself at all. I’m afraid that papa’s exuberance struck poor gentle Scott dumb.

Scott whispered “but…” and that small whisper sent papa on such a frightening speech that I thought Scott would faint away. Papa was like a train engine that was being stuffed full of coal. He just kept huffing and puffing and blowing cigar smoke all over Scott, who was sweating and turning white and I was sure that he was going to faint right before he stood up and yelled, “Then I’ll play your card game! I’ll not just play it, I’ll win that big tournament that everyone’s talking about!”

That just took my breath away and papa’s too. He stood there, huffed and puffed, and then roared a laugh. “Well, if you think you can do it, go ahead and try! If you can win the tournament, I’ll gladly give you my daughter’s hand in marriage!”

But… Scott doesn’t know how to play boat! Can I teach him in time?

I'm in love!

I don’t think I can summarize the last couple days. Everything’s gone too fast. Michael says I’m moving too fast, but Scott and I have fallen for each other. We’re just so right for each other, I know it. Scott even likes Parare and doesn’t want to leave. He wants to stay when the inevitable happens. That right there, that’s how I knew we were meant to be together. He can stay here and I can teach him all about the cards, and he can teach me all about accounting and poetry.

He asked me to marry him, and what could I say but yes?

But… he hasn’t met papa yet. I’m taking Scott to meet Papa tonight. I hope everything goes right.

My wish came true!

I almost gave up wishing for anything when I was a little girl, but my papa always said that lady luck has a habit of smiling on people that want something bad enough. I spent the last five years, wishing and praying for a new face to show up in Parare. Well, just as soon as the road out of Parare was opened once more, the sweetest man you ever did see rode into town in his broken down little automobile.

I was right there to greet him and it’s a good thing too, because the moment he stepped out of the automobile I could see that he was in a right state. His clothing was all wrinkled and it didn’t look like he’d shaved in days. He begged me for some water and then fainted dead away. I picked that poor man up and carried him off to the sawbones, who just said the poor man was dehydrated and needed some rest.

Well I had some things to attend to so I left him there but I could not get him out of my head. I know I shouldn’t be so giddy, he’s just someone new, but he doesn’t look like any boy I’ve ever known from Parare and he just looked so fascinating. I couldn’t help it… as soon as I heard that the boy was awake and alert I went to his room. We talked all night! His name is Scott Peterson and he is sharp as a tack. He’s an accountant, can you imagine that? He works with other people’s money and never gambles it away or anything. He even knows some poetry!

Oh, Mabel, you silly girl… getting infatuated with this man. He’s sure to leave soon, everyone does. Still… maybe I can convince him to stay.