“I told you, I don’t disappoint,” he said and sat down with her.

“So what card games do you know?”

“Probably all of them that you know.”

She glanced up from shuffling the deck.  “You’re pretty sure of yourself, but that won’t get you very far because I only know one.”

“Which is?”

“Poker.”

“What kind of poker?”

“All kinds.  But just for fun, with as many things wild as possible.”

A pained look crossed his face.  “Deuces?”

“Plus one-eyed jacks and king-with-the-ax.  That’s just for starters.”

“No, that’s more than enough.  What do you want to play for?”

“Well, you don’t have any money so that won’t work.  I wish it was acorn season.  How about pieces of straw?”

“You realize that straw’s all there is here, a whole barn full of it, so we’ve both won already.”

“Right.  But that won’t stop us.  And there’s the double-ace flush rule, right?”  He shook his head.

They played several hands before he stopped her.

“Either you don’t know the rules or you’re choosing not to play by them,” he said.  “That hand isn’t worth anything.”

“I have this king-with-the-ax.”

“Yes and it still isn’t worth anything, no matter what you call your king-with-the-ax.”

“Maybe I’m setting you up.”

“Maybe you are, but I doubt it.”

“Go ahead and doubt it all you want.”  She then beat him four hands in a row, using the wild cards in devious ways, making a neat collection of pieces of straw.

He took the deck from her.  “Let’s play something else,” he said.

“Something I don’t know so you can win?”

“A game better suited to the situation.”

“Which is?”

“Two people, one of whom is a ringer.”

“What’s a ringer?”

He let his eyes rest on her.  “You’ve never played a real game of stakes poker, have you?”

“No.  What’s your new game?”

“What did you do?  Play poker by yourself?  I don’t think that’s possible, is it?”

“No comment,” she said.  Why go there?  It wasn’t worth it.  “The new game, please.”

“Blackjack.”  He taught her how to play it.  She caught on quickly.  “If you’re set on not going out to the desert you could probably become a professional card player.  You’ve already got the Colt which would be the other requirement.”

“I don’t want to talk about the desert.  I’m pretending it doesn’t exist, remember?”  She was quiet for a moment.  “But I want to tell you one more awful thing and then I’m done forever with awful things.”

“Go ahead.”

“I got five lashes for playing cards.”

“Why?”

“Because cards are forbidden.  They’re frivolous, a mindless distraction when we’re supposed to stay pure and focused.”

“Seriously, were you playing by yourself?”