The sun rose over Thallow Flats, bathing the building in an angelic glow. The thought of this place as heavenly, filled him with silent, mocking laughter. Thallow Flats was a dirty, run-down, decrepit apartment building. Getting up this early messes with the perception, he said to himself. This place is anything but angelic. A predawn run had seemed like a good idea. But now he was sleepy, and needed to rest his eyes, even if his body could have kept going.
He wanted to head back up to his room to sleep, but he had work to do. That's why he had been up so early in the first place. Maybe a caffeine pill. He didn't have one though, so he headed to the pharmacy nearby. He walked through the gift shop on his way into the pharmacy, and started to talk to Karen. She was nice enough, but a little too cheery, especially this early in the morning. Fortunately, her cheery brightness had at least woken him up more. He said good-bye to Karen, she had been a little distracted during their conversation. Maybe it had something to do with that Jimmy guy. Good for them, he thought. Then he forgot about it altogether. The game was later that day. The thought of the game got him through all of his work that day.
He arrived at the game that night, ready to win. He didn't.
Royal Flush
Ranking of Hands
- Straight Flush
- Four-of-a-Kind
- Full House
- Flush
- Straight
- Three-of-a-Kind
- Two Pair
- Pair
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Oliver lay in his bed in the mid-afternoon, looking around the room as it were a cage, and he was the feverish bird wanting to escape. It had been two days since his strange hallucinatory dream of the girl and her questions he could not answer. He felt extremely cooped up inside his small apartment bedroom, with the lights always off and the sunrays faintly shining through the thick curtains, leaving a gloomy look within the room. With his fever gradually disappearing and his health being regained, Oliver decided it was time he got up from his bed and actually move his limbs for the first time in a couple of days. He sat up, and noticing that his head didn’t feel so stuffy and clammy, he got enough strength to rip away the covers and simply get out of bed within a few seconds. His fever seemed to have almost completely gone away, and nothing could have made him happier.
“Ahhhh…” he sighed as he stretched and opened the curtains to a bright, blinding glare from the sun on the cold window. He felt fully rejuvenated, and at that point in time he wasn’t even thinking of his strange, haunting experiences during the past week; in fact, he wasn’t thinking much at all. He just felt good. After making his bed and letting more light into the apartment, he took a hot shower, made a breakfast of toast and eggs, and began playing a Keith Jarrett album on the record player. As he sat back on his bed and ate his breakfast, he attempted to wonder why exactly he had been feeling so strange lately, and even more so, why he suddenly felt so carefree. To his surprise, he simply couldn’t remember what had irked him so much about the past several days. He thought about the morning when he was disturbed by the silence of his apartment, he thought about the gangster movie on TV that had made him surprisingly uncomfortable, and in no way could he forget the dream of the girl. He tried to find a reason for his unusual emotions, but somehow he couldn’t come up with a logical answer. Besides, there was no point in trying to rationalize his past misery, and as he finished his breakfast, he decided to take a walk around the town.
It was about 8:00 when Oliver walked out the door into the second-story hallway of Thallow Flats. His family was already home, so there was no need to lock the door. He walked downstairs and was almost out the door when he turned the corner in the hallway and ran right into a man walking the opposite direction. “Whoa!” exclaimed Oliver, as he stopped in surprise. “Sorry, are you alright? I didn’t see you there.” The man looked up, and Oliver instantly recognized him, from where he couldn’t remember. “Oh…yeah, I’m fine,” the man said. “It’s okay. Sorry about that.” He began to walk past Oliver, but Oliver turned around and said, “Sorry, but don’t I know you from somewhere?” The man turned towards Oliver with a puzzled look on his face and said, “Um…I…don’t know. My name’s Ace, but I don’t know–“ “Oh yeah, Ace!” Oliver said, suddenly remembering who he was. “That’s right, I remember you from poker down at the tavern. I don’t know if you remember me, though, it was a while ago, and I’ve only been a few times.”
“Oliver?” said Ace, looking closely at him. “Hey, yeah, I remember you. How’s it going?” “Not too bad,” said Oliver, trying not to get into an explanation of his strange whirlwind of emotions from the past week. “How’ve you been? Are you still playing down there?” “Yep, still playing, but it’s been a little…slow lately,” said Ace, looking off to the side and seeming a bit tired. “Oh. Well, yeah, I guess sometimes you just seem to hit a dry spot, you know?” Oliver said, trying to understand exactly what he meant by that. “Well, it was good seeing you, Ace.” Ace looked back at Oliver and said, “Oh yeah, you too. I, uh, guess I’ll see you around.” “See ya,” replied Oliver. Oliver then walked out onto the street and tried to remember why he stopped going to the poker nights. “Oh well,” he thought. “This isn’t the time to think. This is the time to just walk.” And so he walked out into the night.
http://neandrathalpie.blogspot.com/2007/02/boring-escapade.html
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