She smiles. “Viktor?”
“What?”
“What’s your favorite movie?”)
“I haven’t gone to the movies since I was a kid.”
“Why?”
“I prefer real life.”
“Always on your guard?”
“I guess you’re right.”
“Let me take you out to a movie tonight. Can you let your guard down a couple of hours?”
“I’ll try.”
Andea took his hand. Viktor, unsure, yet, trusting her, lets her guide him into someone else’s world. They find a theater that specializes in non-current movies. Snowcake was playing.
When he came out of the theater, Viktor was stunned by Sigourney Weaver’s portrayal of a woman with autism. “Reading people and seeing the world from someone else’s perspective are two different things,” he commented. “Reading people leads to knowing if they are lying, and what they may be hiding. Seeing the world from someone else’s perspective requires another skill.”
“Compassion?” Andea suggested.
“Oye!”
“What?”
“It’s hard to be guarded and be compassionate at the same time.”
“Do you see the stars? Do you see the lights reflecting in the river? Do you feel the need to protect yourself from them?”
“I don’t look at things that I have no need to fear.”
“What about enjoying them? Being a part of the infinite unknowable universe?”
“Is there some part of the universe that is unknowable?”
“Is everything so predictable to you?”
“What are you saying?”
“What about love?”
“Are you flirting with me?”
Andea searched for something vibrant into his eyes without responding.
The following day, Viktor couldn’t concentrate as usual. He felt discombobulated. He looked constantly over his shoulders as though someone could read his mind. Andea had opened a new space inside of him that he was not familiar with and he could not shut the door to it. He saw people as people, not simply as poker players. She was sitting at the table next to his. She smiled at him. “Just be yourself,” she seemed to say.
He snapped back into his old self. He had the lead in no time. The rest of the players teased him, trying to find his weak spot. He fed off of that, knowing they had not figured him out.
The finals came to 11 players. Andea, the old man, and Viktor were in. Viktor had generated a reputation for being inscrutable. Andea was the sweetheart that nobody believed to be dumb, but they liked saying she was the luckiest. And the old man was the quiet one who had seen it all. If he were in the movies, he’d be Clint Eastwood. No one remembered his real name. He’d been going by The River for over a decade because of the number of times he came from behind with the final card dealt in Texas Hold’em.
As Viktor sat at the table he felt excited, like a little kid playing his favorite game. His new friend, Andea, was sitting next to him and the man he’d come to respect, The River, was across from them. Viktor had gone this far and he had nothing to lose and nothing to prove. He was happy with any result. His frame of mind had shifted. When he entered the tournament his excitement was anxiously affected by his desire to win it all, and to be recognized for his ability to outwit his opponents. Sitting at the final table with the best in the world, all that was gone. It was an awesome feeling. That must be the beginner’s mind, he thought.
In the beginning, the cards weren’t to his liking. He did not bet. He just waited for his luck to turn. Sara had interpreted his folding of good hands as calculated play. But card likelihood did not appear to follow Viktor’s expectations and he was not sure how to play. So he patiently passed or folded.
Meanwhile, Andea did well and The River was in the lead with his trademark wins on the last card several times which sapped slowly at the confidence of most other players around the table. When she won a big hand against the old man because the river did not go his way, Viktor was excited for her. He cared that she did well. He looked at her and liked her hair, the shape of her lips. He had not paid attention to her features before. He was falling in love.
It came down to the three of them and Andea went all in on The River and won. There was a brief intense eye exchange between the two which Andea broke with charm and lighthearted laughter. Viktor loved watching their skills. His game did not follow his usual calculations. Cards came his way that seemed to beat probabilities. Inspired by Andea’s bold move, he stopped counting and trusted his guts. That’s when he won big for the first time that day. Viktor knew he was getting a new part of the game he had never experienced before. There was a time when intuition beat any probability expectations.
“You’re flirting with magic!” Andea said at some point.
Just being in love, he thought. His opponents did not stand a chance.
~ ~ ~
Sara, iridescent stones shining at her fingers and dangling from her neck, a camera following her, makes her way to her table. She passes by nick and shakes his hand, her eyes pleading for discretion. nick puts his hands in his trousers’ front pockets. She’d slipped a piece of paper in his left hand. The media people recorded: Two flashy poker players touching hands. The two sit at different tables. The two move to the next round.
Anxious to see what’s on the piece of paper, nick goes on his regular stroll along the river. He walks for a while, making sure he isn’t followed. He crosses over the first bridge and sits on the stone steps of a cathedral at the other end. Organ music is playing inside and he is transported by it. He breathes deeply, looks around him, and is attracted by the stars reflecting light that pierces through millions of miles of space to reach the river and dance in it. He remembers Andea’s questions: Do you see the stars? Do you see the lights reflecting in the river? Do you feel the need to protect yourself from them?
He pulls the piece of paper out from his pocket and unfolds it. “I know you’ve been looking for me. I can’t wait to see you. Room 1313. 3 AM.” nick is not hungry. He goes to his room and lies on his bed. His heart is pounding. So Sara knows who I am. But how does she know Andea?
At 3 AM sharp, he wakes up startled. He remembers his date. He combs his hair with his fingers, pulls down on his jacket with his hands to smooth out its wrinkles, walks to the elevator, thinks better of it, and takes the stairs. The hall is quiet. As he brings his hand to knock, fearing to make that needed noise, the door opens. He enters. The hand at the door handle is Andea’s.
He wants to hug her. She holds him off closing the door first. Then she gives him a tight and long and silent and warm embrace.
“You can’t imagine how often I’ve wanted to write to you or call you. But I couldn’t. My dad wanted me to mess with you and get you to lose to him last year.”
“Wait … I thought your dad was dead.”
“I lied. The River is my dad. Something went wrong in the finals last year. When I went all in, he was supposed to win on the river. But I did. And I felt free for the first time in my life. I was no longer Daddy’s little girl. I was elated. And then you won and I thought the world of you. But, you don’t know my dad, he threatened me after that. He thought I had planned it all on purpose. He made me promise not to ever, ever, connect with you. That’s been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. He forbade me to enter any tournament. When he saw the name nick among the participants he knew it was you. And he asked me to play you again. He provided the disguise of Sara. I hate that look. But it worked. You did not recognize me. He wants his revenge. He said he’d kill me if I fail him again.”
“But you did not fail him last year.”
“That’s not what he says.”
“So why tell me all this?’
“I don’t want to lie to you. I want to come clean before I die. I want a chance to hold you in my arms.”
“Why did you wait this long?”
“I was still Daddy’s little girl. I felt powerless. I did not think of a way out until it struck me at the restaurant table and I was playing my game and you walked out on me without a second thought. Even though it wasn’t me you walked out on, it hurt like it was me. I missed the real me. It was time to break free from my dad’s shadow.”
“Awww!”
“Viktor?”
“Yes.”
“Can … will you ever forgive me?”
“…”
“You don’t have to answer. I know I have lied to you and I promised to keep in touch and I didn’t. You have every right …”
“Andea … ssssssh! … Do you think I would be here, now, if I had not already forgiven you? The question is: How do you survive this?”
“There is no way.”
“How do you think he lost last year?”
“It was a miracle!”
“Didn’t you say your dad had the game rigged?”
“Yeah … but it backfired on him.”
“What if he did it on purpose?”
“What are you saying?”
“What – if – he –“
“I know what you said. Oh! … oh! … OH! You mean he chose to lose a poker championship so he could get upset with me?”
“I think he loves control. And the key part of the game I missed was the rigging.”
“You think too much. We don’t have much time. You need to get back to your room before anyone finds out. But not before you kiss me … properly.”
~ ~ ~
nick walks to the cameras inches away from Sara. Around them are the nine other players who will sit together for the final round, including The River. nick kneels in front of Sara.
“What are you doing?” she gasps.
“Sara,” nick says, distinctly so it is recorded by the media. And reaching for her hand, he continues distinctly, “Will you introduce me to your father, so I can ask him to marry the most beautiful woman I know?”
“Oh!” Sara gasps again.
The media folks ask her where her father is. She faints. The River assumes nick bluffs. He stares at him: “You only do this to hurt me!”
“Just watch me!” nick says.
“I’ll let you win if you leave my daughter alone.”
“I don’t care to win a rigged game.”
“Whatever … Leave my daughter alone.”
“Too late, it’s all over the news. They’ll hunt you down.”
Sara wakes up. The cameras stare at her. She takes off her artificial hair and cleans her overly made up face with tissue and skin cleanser she had in her purse. She shakes off her real hair to loosen it. nick takes a battery operated razor and some lotion from his jacket and shaves off his mustache and goatee. He takes his sunglasses off and ties his trademark tie-dyed bandana over his head. The crowd roars.
Andea and Viktor sit side by side and face The River for a rematch of the previous year. The other players are amused by the scene. Viktor asks to see the decks of cards to confirm they are brand new.