James Kelman - A Chancer

No bad, yourself?

No complaints. . he introduced the other man as Eric. We’re just heading up the Royal , he said, this place gets too noisy sometimes.

Eric grimaced, shaking his head.

Tammas smiled.

Come with us if you want.

Nah it’s okay Joe thanks.

Naw, come on, you’re alright.

Ah well okay.

Be a game of poker later on. . Joe held the door open for him and as they walked behind Deefy to the exit he asked, Still seeing wee Vi?

Aye.

Joe glanced at Eric: He’s winching wee Vi Wylie.

Is he? Eric peered at Tammas and said: Are you?

Well no really winching I mean we’re. . he sniffed. We’re seeing each other right enough.

Nice wee lassie.

Tammas nodded.

No out with her the night? said Joe.

Naw.

Course she’s got that wee wean to look after.

Aye.

Tricky and that for babysitters? asked Eric.

No too bad.

Eric nodded. Deefy was holding the outside door open for them and the trio exchanged Goodnights with him.

The Royal was also busy. In the coffee lounge Tammas ordered an omelette and chips. Joe and the other guy had coffee and they sat drinking it with him while he waited. When the woman appeared with it from the kitchen he got up and so did the other two. See you when you come ben, said Joe. He and Eric walked to the door through into the casino but then he turned back alone and he said quietly, Hey Tammas you okay for the poker?

Aye.

About cash I mean. Sometimes on a Friday they make it a fifty sit in.

A fifty! Christ, I thought it was just twenty.

Sometimes, aye. It depends. Not if there’s money about.

Tammas shrugged.

Wee Vi’d give me a doing if she thought I was leading you astray! Joe grinned, speaking quietly.

D’you think it’ll be fifty the night like?

Could be. And it’s stud they play. No quarter!

Tammas looked at him. The woman was returning him his change: Just keep it, he said, lifting his plate and reaching for a knife and fork. He glanced sideways. I’m alright Joe.

Fair enough, aye. Joe tapped him on the shoulder, turned to leave.

Eh Joe. . Tammas paused with the plate and cutlery in his hands. That guy Stan’s no in the night is he?

Stan? Naw — no Stan; he never comes — no unless the women are here or something.

Aw.

How? D’you want to see him?

Naw.

Joe nodded. He was looking at Tammas: Okay?

Aye, Christ, fine.

Stan’s alright.

Aye.

A nice big guy. Joe grinned: You dont worry about him do ye!

Naw.

Good. Okay. . Joe patted him on the shoulder before leaving.

He took his time in eating the omelette and chips, gazing at the following evening’s dog card at Shawfield. There was one going he fancied quite strongly. He had backed it last time out and it had just failed to get up on the line. Now it was getting an extra yard in the handicap and had to have a chance. He put a tick against it with his pen, then ate the last couple of chips, finished off the coffee, strolled through to the gaming section.

He had £52 of a wad, enough to play poker and just about be comfortable with, but not much more than that. But there was no point trying to improve it on the tables. That was how it got frittered away, the quick route to going skint. According to Joe the only game worth playing was chemmy — except for poker. And all you had to do was look at the kind of folk playing here in comparison to those back at the club. There was money but not much else. Real punters like Deefy and them would hardly watch roulette never mind play it. Tammas had never seen Joe gambling at any of the tables, just occasionally standing by one while talking to somebody. And it was very seldom he ever went near at all when Milly was playing. She always played roulette, nearly always at the same table, and she tried to sit next to the wheel. There were two women sitting at her usual place just now. Tammas recognised them vaguely. Both were wearing long dresses of a style similar to the one Rena’s best maid had worn at the wedding, the dresses stopping short at the top of the breasts so that the cleavage was quite easy to see. When Vi was in with Milly what she did was stick to the even money bets. And occasionally she won, and would stop while ahead. There was a Chinese guy on the opposite side of the table. He was betting after the same sort of method. He had a card and he was marking in numbers, he was in the midst of a winning sequence. The 19–36 he was gambling. Tammas watched him win four times in succession and on each occasion his bet was six £5 chips. The sequence ended when number 11 appeared. And he did not bet in the next, nor the next. Tammas lighted a cigarette. The two women were using the individually coloured chips, spreading them about on single numbers. That was the way Milly gambled. They were not talking to each other while they were doing it. One of them seemed to be winning a lot. The Chinese guy was now making a bet — the odd column, again for the six £5s. The metal ball was spinning and some latecomers were putting down bets quickly and methodically. Number 33: and the Chinese guy was a winner. So too the woman who seemed to be winning a lot. The croupier stacked out the chips for her and then for him. He lifted six and left six, and lighted a plain cigarette. There was a brief pause. Then the croupier was whirling off the wheel with his left hand while flicking the ball in with his right, and leaning back a little, listening to something being whispered by another of the casino employees. And again people were stretching to make their bets and Tammas also was leaning forwards and he dropped £50 down onto the black bed, and stepped back, folding his arms and holding the cigarette to his mouth with his left hand. The croupier glanced at him then exchanged the notes for ten £5 chips, stuffing them through a slot to the side of the wheel; and the smooth whirr of the ball spinning was becoming a rattling noise and the croupier called, No more bets. The ball settled into a red number. It was also an odd number and the Chinese guy was a winner. Tammas nodded slightly, inhaled on the cigarette. And he waited there until the ball was spinning once again.

Eric was across at the craps table, leaning his elbows on the rim of it, totally engrossed in the play. Joe was nowhere to be seen.

On his way out Tammas stopped and went into the coffee lounge. A man was sitting at the table he had been at before and was reading the Daily Record. Tammas said, That’s mine — I just left it there.

The man shrugged, he closed it over and passed it up.

I’ve no finished reading it myself. . Tammas sniffed. He rolled it up while heading to the exit.

•••

If I was drawing you, he said, moving his right forefinger down over the bridge of her nose and her lips, and down and along the line of her shoulder to the top of her arm; he tugged the blankets down a little, continuing the line round the curve of her left breast, moving his finger beneath and lifting it slightly, now moving the back of his hand in beneath it and he stared at her until she glanced at him out the corner of her eye. Sometimes eyes look like fish.

O thanks, thanks a lot.

Naw, just from side on like this when you’re looking. . His head was resting on the palm of his left hand, propping himself on the elbow. He withdrew the hand from beneath her breast and she shifted her position a bit, still lying quite straight on her back with her right arm beside him, the hand on his left thigh. He returned his forefinger onto her forehead again, retracing the outline of her profile, this time bringing the tip of his finger round the lines within her left ear.

Watch my nose with your elbow, she muttered and half turned her head, her hand also moving away but it resettled on his thigh again.