the sharp

by walter w johnson iii

he called himself a card sharp and he dressed the part with a string tie and a little mustache he sat at the bar riffling a deck of cards naturally, nobody wanted to play with him or gave him any action when he managed to sit in on a game not even the dummy or the indian gave him any action so what was he up to? the turk thought he was some kind of federal lawman and so did the chinaman he hung around, on and off for months finally, the scotchman said i have had enough i am sick of looking at his foolish face shuffling his stupid deck of cards that nobody will play with except himself a hush fell over the bar when the scotchman said something he meant it, he was not the irishman or the dago or the russian nobody ever saw the card sharp again did he take the hint nobody knew or asked questions the game went on friendly like the way it was meant to be and the moon came out at night smiling and relieved