A Chancer (40 page)

Somebody strolled to close the door behind him. A moment passed, then several conversations broke out. The dealer was muttering to the worker on his right: It fucking sickens me when that
happens but I’m no kidding ye, it just fucking sickens me.

Should’ve his fucking hands cut off.

The dealer nodded, reaching to the shoe; and he began lifting out all the cards. Here, he said, shuffle them for a new deck . . . He glanced towards the punters and asked, Where’s the bank
got to? I’ve bloody forgot with all this carry on.

There was some laughter. Eventually it was sorted out. The two workers were still shuffling the cards and different conversations continued. Across the other side from Tammas Joe was moving away
and he and the man with him walked to the door. Tammas stepped out from the row of spectators and gave him a wave. Joe grinned. How you doing Tammas?

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.

He placed his right hand on the other side of the pillow, manoeuvering himself to kiss her on the mouth. Vi, you’re really beautiful. I’m no kidding.

Tch, shut up.

Naw, honest. He moved a little away and stared at her. You are. I’m no kidding.

You’ve said that.

I’ve said that?

She shook her head, smiling, moving to kiss him. It’s alright, I dont mind you telling me I’m beautiful.

Christ Vi. He kissed the tip of her nose, shifting his right leg over her left leg, the knee resting between hers, and she put both her arms round his back, raising herself up into him. Soon he
was hard and she lay for him to push entry. He whispered, I really love that feeling. She was looking at him and she nodded; her eyelids opened and closed. He was inside her now and stretching,
then he lay taking the weight on his elbows. She was looking at him and he smiled and her eyelids shut, and he started the thrust.

When he had come he remained inside her. She kissed him, pulling him down on top of her and she said, Just lie.

I’ll flatten you.

No you’ll no.

You sure?

She smiled, knocking at his arms until he took the weight off his elbows and settled onto her.

I’m squashing you.

You’re no.

Hh.

I like feeling you.

He smiled and altered the way he was lying just sufficient to face into the hollow of her neck and shoulders, the side of his head resting on the pillow.

Mm.

What is it?

This is nice.

Hh, aye.

And soon she was moving, a sort of circular motion, still with him inside her although still soft. She kept the movement going for a while, until he had become semi hard and able to continue
alone, and she shut her eyelids and kissed him on the mouth and he stretched, grinning down at her, now kissing her on the forehead, and her intake of breath when he started thrusting a bit more
deeply.

What . . .

She was reaching across and switching on the bedside lamp. She clambered over him and off the bed onto the floor, and she dressed quickly.

D’you mean in the morning?

It’s no funny. Cathy’ll be wondering if something’s up.

Och naw she’ll no.

She will but you dont know her! Vi was buttoning up her blouse, tucking the hem of it inside her skirt waistband. I’ll need to tell her something . . .

Tell her we’re having a marathon!

It’s no funny I’m saying . . . Vi had walked to the sink and she turned on the tap. Kirsty as well, she’ll be wondering. And sometimes Cathy’s kids pick on her a wee bit
. . . She was rubbing her hands on the towel, dropping it onto a dining chair as she passed to the kitchen door. D’you mind getting up?

O aye, sorry.

Naw it’s just . . . Vi paused, she smiled. It’s just Kirsty I suppose I just . . . She smiled again, shrugging.

Of course – sorry.

Naw, tch! She opened the door and went out.

He got up and put his clothes on. Vi had cooked food for them earlier and all the cutlery and crockery and stuff were still lying about the oven and the sink and on the coffee table beside the
settee and armchair. He filled a kettle to start the washing up, and he made himself a cup of coffee. He moved quickly about the place, lifting Kirsty’s toys and putting them in one heap
beneath her cot.

The washing up was finished and he had switched on the television by the time she came back. Kirsty was in her arms, thumb in the mouth and eyelids flickering but she stared at Tammas when she
saw him.

Vi glanced about at everything and smiled at him. No comment, she said and he grinned and offered her a cigarette. Then she frowned: You could at least have told me I’d forgot to put on my
tights!

What?

I forgot to put on my bloody tights! she said, mouthing the last part of the sentence.

Hh.

Aye I know, hh!

He was smiling at her. Want a coffee or tea?

Naw, I had to take one in with Cathy.

Did she say anything?

Naw. But she knew.

She knew?

Vi raised her eyebrows at him and started preparing Kirsty for bed. Aye she knew!

What’re you talking about, knew? Knew what!

Vi looked at him and he laughed.

He peered down at her when she spoke; he had his hands beneath his head on the pillow and she with her head on his chest, lying almost on top of him. About the crisps, she
said, that first time we met – what was it you said again?

Pardon?

Vi was grinning. You said something when you dished out the crisps, that first time we met, down at Ayr Races. Remember? You went up and bought a round of drinks for everybody and then dished up
a pile of crisps. Vi laughed. And you said something – I dont remember. Just the way you said it but. You should’ve seen Charlie’s face.

How what d’you mean?

I dont know, it was just funny.

What I said?

Well aye, and the way Charlie looked. And he made a face behind your back.

What?

Honest! Vi laughed.

Christ. He had shifted to see her more fully: What kind of face?

It was as if he thought you thought you were somebody, because you’d won the money.

Hh! That’s f – that’s terrible.