whatever.
Meacham smiled broadly.
Deciding not to press his luck any further, Meacham got up and left, leaving nearly a full glass of whiskey on the table behind him.
Chapter Nine
As Matt took a long look around the room, he saw Meacham leave. Because he had never seen him before, he didn’t recognize him, but he did notice that the man left a full glass of whiskey on the table, and that was unusual enough to generate some curiosity about him.
Feeling no sense of imminent danger from him, however, Matt continued to peruse the room over his mug of beer. That was when he saw a few people sitting at one of the other tables enjoying a lively game of cards. There were two brass spittoons within spitting distance of the players, but despite their presence, the floor was riddled with expectorated tobacco quids and chewed cigar butts.
One of the players raked in his bank, then stood up. “I have to go, boys, or my wife will be comin’ in here after me.”
“Lord, get out of here quick, Arnie, I have no wish to be on your wife’s bad side,” one of the other players said, and the others laughed. The player who had spoken noticed that Matt was looking on.
“Mr. Jensen, the hero of the town,” the man said in a welcoming voice. “And congratulations.”
“What are you congratulatin’ him for, Doc? For havin’ the parade, for being acquitted by the hearing, or for not gettin’ shot last night?” one of the other players asked.
“How about all of the above,” the man called Doc replied, and the others, including Matt, laughed. Then, to Matt, Doc said, “We have an empty chair here and would be mighty proud and honored, ifyou would join us, sir.” The player issuing the invitation was a rather tall, cadaverous looking man. He was wearing a black suit and string tie, in contrast to the other two players, who were wearing denims and cotton shirts.
Matt tossed the rest of his drink down, then wiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Thanks for the invite,” he said. “I’ll be glad to join you.”
“I’m Doc Mason,” the spokesman for the group continued. “The fellow with the bush on his face is Clyde Hawkens, the other one is Sam Goodbody.”
“Glad to meet you folks,” Matt replied, shaking the hand of each of them in turn. “Any table rules I need to know?”
“You can take up to twenty dollars out of your pocket, but what you take out of your pocket and put in front of you is all the money you can play with,” Doc Mason said. “You can’t go back for more. Even if you only take out ten dollars, you can’t go back for more.”
“Sounds reasonable,” Matt said. “Who’s been the winner so far?”
“Well, now, that would have to be Doc Mason here,” Clyde said. “You’d better watch out for him. He’s pretty good at the game. He says he is a dentist, but I think he’s actually a professional gambler. He just claims to be a dentist so’s he can get other folks to play cards with him.”
The accusation was made in jest and the others, including Doc Mason, laughed at the good natured ribbing.
“Thanks for the warning,” Matt said.
“He ain’t a bad dentist,” Sam, said. “But two weeks ago, he pulled the wrong tooth out of Harley Barnes’ mouth.”
“Yeah? Well, here’s the thing, Sam,” Doc Mason replied. “Have you ever noticed that all those teeth look alike? Sometimes, I just get them confused, is all.”
Again, there was laughter around the table.
“How long you plannin’ on stayin’ in Pueblo, Mr. Jensen?” the dentist asked as he dealt the cards. It was easy to see why he was ahead. He handled the cards easily, gracefully, whereas the others around the table looked awkward, even when picking up the pasteboards. “The reason I asked, things seem to happen when you are around and I was just wonderin’ when things are going to get back to normal.”
“Depends,” Matt replied.
“On what?” Clyde asked. “I mean, you ain’t expectin’ to have a parade in your honor every day, are you?”
“No, I don’t need a parade every day. Why, do you think I’m that vain? One parade a week will do. Or I would even be satisfied with one a month,” Matt teased.
“Lord knows, we need some substantial citizens around here to balance off these two degenerates,” Doc Mason said, bantering.
The game continued for a couple of hours with Matt winning a little more than he was losing. He wasn’t a big winner, but then there were no big winners or big losers. As a result, the game was played with comity and enjoyment.
After two hours, Matt laid down his cards and picked his money up from the table. “Well, gentlemen, I thank you for the invitation to play,” Matt said. “It has made for a pleasant evening. But I think I will take advantage of the hotel room the bank has provided, for at least one more night.”
“And we thank you for joining our game,” Doc Mason said. “I hope you don’t have any unwelcome visitors tonight.”
“Wait a minute, Doc, how do you know he doesn’t want a visitor tonight?” Clyde asked. “He’s a young, unmarried man. He might want to have some young lady visit him.”
“That’s why I said ‘unwelcome’ visitors,” Mason said.
