Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Watching

I was waiting, which makes for great watching. In that it was at the airport, it was even better. A young man approached, slicked down hair, jeans and hoodie, and asked a neighbor waiter if he might have an extra smoke.

The young man had a look about him, one I had seen before: furtive, figuring, running the numbers. He smoked the bummed cig with some urgency,  and with his free hand practiced rolling a quarter over its knuckles.

He played. I just knew he played. He just hadn't gotten it down yet, is all.

5 comments:

TenMile said...

Uh huh, and bumin' cigs in the airport, how well?

Crash said...

Can any of you do the chip-shuffling trick? Not me; I can barely stack my chips without them falling over. Elderly tremor. 6 month delay in UIGEA enforcement!!

Forrest Gump said...

i learnt how to shuffle etc then realised how douchey it is, as well as being -EV. When i sit down, i want to look and act as clueless as possible.



FG

bastinptc said...

I find the clattering of chips rather irritating when I first sit down. I do not bother, touching my chips only to cap my cards (no card protector, although a good rookie bangle might be advised) and to bet.

As for the young lad, yeah.

Happy Thanksgiving, y'all.

TenMile said...

You ta, and all.