“Take it or leave it.”
“Fine!”
They brought out the organ donation
agreement. I signed it without hesitation.
Two kidneys, three hundred thousand.
“Wait!” Robert interrupted. “I’ll buy his kidneys!
I’ll give you another hundred grand!”
He really wanted me dead.
The owner’s eyes gleamed. “Mr. Miller, my
channels are worth more than a hundred
grand.”
“Two hundred thousand! No, three hundred!”
The owner smirked. “Deal.”
He scribbled an IOU for six hundred thousand.
I made that three hundred thousand last for two
hours. I had to make it somewhat believable, so
I let Robert win some hands. Seventy percent of
the time, he won. Thirty percent, I did.
When the last of my chips were gone, Robert’s
<
“I want your kidneys. Now.”
The owner frowned. “Mr. Miller, we don’t have
the facilities here. They won’t last long outside the body. You’d be losing money.”
“I want to cut them out myself.” Robert grabbed a knife. “You little punk, I was roaming
the streets before you were even born! You
think you can mess with me?”
Two goons held me down.
The knife was inches from my stomach.
“Wait!” I yelled. “I have more money!”
“Oh? And where is that?”
“My house! It’s worth over a million!”
“That dump of a fruit stand?”
く
11:10
“It’s going to be demolished soon! We’ll get
multiple apartments!”
“You mean…” Robert raised an eyebrow.
you want to keep playing?”
“Yes! I’m going to win it all back!”
…
The knife clattered to the floor.
Robert laughed. “Then I’ll play you to the
death.”
40
“One hand. Winner takes all,” I said. “One point
two million. I’m all in.‘
Robert hesitated.
The dealer dealt my cards, “accidentally”
flipping the last one over. A six. I could have
asked for a new card, according to the rules. I
didn’t.
<
Robert had three Kings. Even if I had three sixes, I’d lose.
40
He beamed. “I’m in! Whatever you bet, I’m in!”
The owner said, “Mr. Miller, that old apartment building isn’t worth 1.2 million. Seventy, tops.”
“Then I’ll write an IOU for five hundred thousand!”
“I don’t believe you can beat me every time!” I yelled, feigning madness. “My corneas! Another hundred thousand! Are you in?”
“In!”
“My liver! Three hundred thousand! Are you
in?”
In!”
“My parents‘ kidneys! And my sister’s!” What a
<
“In!”
We kept raising the stakes, a mountain of IOUS
piling up on the table.
“Alright! Let’s decide this!”
I flipped over my last two cards. Two sixes.
“Three sixes! Three of a kind! I don’t believe
you can beat me!”
Robert sneered. “Your whole family’s lives
belong to me now! Let’s see what I have!”
Slap!
“Jack, Queen, King. A straight flush. I win.”
Robert’s smile froze.
He stared at his cards, turning them over and
over.
く
“Impossible! I had three Kings! You cheated!
Cheater!”
He jumped on the table, trying to attack me.
One of the giants swept his legs out from under
him, sending him crashing to the floor.
“There are witnesses,” the owner said. “You
trying to welch on a bet, Mr. Miller?”
It finally hit him. “You set me up! You were all
in on it!”
He tried to flip the table, but he was too weak.
“You wanted to gamble. Now you lose, you say
it was a setup?” The owner laughed. “You ask
anyone here, does that make sense?”
Everyone shook their heads. “No!”
The giants grabbed Robert.
<
“Let’s settle the accounts. Let’s see how you’re
going to pay.”
In the end, after factoring in the value of his
apartment, Robert owed the casino almost
three million dollars.
I wrapped myself in a blanket, finally feeling warm. I walked over to Robert, enjoying his
misery.
“So, all those years roaming the streets, you didn’t learn much, did you?” I slapped him across the face. “Does it take two to tango?”
A group of thugs stormed into the Millers‘
apartment, smashing everything in sight. It sounded like a warzone.
Robert sat on the couch, flanked by two giants.
He looked like a tiny sprout between two
redwood trees.
