M7land challenge response
Rewriting History Challenge from m7land
A Scene from “Achilles”:
Vin considered the man at the bar. It looked like Ez was really putting it away. Vin had heard about the poker game from Buck. It seemed like the Southerner had been outplayed and cleaned out big time. Still, it wasn’t like the gambler to let himself lose control.
The tracker hesitated for a moment, instinct nudging him to hold off, but he decided to ignore it. He didn’t know if he’d get the nerve to ask if he didn’t do it now.
Ezra was fingering his ever-present pack of cards, peering at them as if looking for some kind of clue. Vin caught the muttered words as he neared, something about “every trick in the book,” followed by “hell, I wrote the book.”
He shrugged his shoulders and closed the distance. “Talking to yourself, Ezra?” he asked.
The other man glanced his way, green eyes not quite focused. “Ah, Mister Tanner, a votre santé!”
The strange words had him squinting as the gambler gulped down the whiskey in his hand, his body weaving slightly. He sensed anger and frustration hanging over Ezra like a deep-winter storm. It puzzled him. Losing a card game didn’t seem worth getting upset over as far as he was concerned. He’d seen players getting into fights, even drawing down on their opponents, and it always seemed about as ridiculous as he could imagine. To him, getting riled over a game of cards was plain downright stupid.
He’d never seen Ezra acting plain downright stupid. Watching the gambler more carefully out of the corner of his eye, he shifted and resolved to bide his time a bit, leaning against the bar, nodding a greeting to the bartender.
Ezra was fumbling with a bottle of whiskey, pouring another drink into his glass. “Damnation,” he snapped, as the liquor overflowed the glass and splashed over his fingers and onto the bar.
“Helluva way to treat good liquor. Ain’t that your expensive stuff?” He waited as Ezra painstakingly brought the glass to his lips and downed half before answering.
“Ah may not be able to afford it shortly so ah fully intend to consume as much as possible while ah have the op-opportunity,” said the gambler with a heavier drawl than usual as he raised the glass and finished off the rest.
“Heard about your poker game. Can’t be all that bad, can it?”
Ezra swayed as he turned to stare muzzily at Vin. “Can’t be all that bad?” he repeated as if he couldn’t quite believe his ears. He threw back his shoulders with exaggerated care. “Ah am a gambler, Mister Tanner.” His hand slapped the deck of cards on the bar, sending a few skittering. “These are not mere pieces of pasteboard. They are my stock-in-trade. My…second skin. Ah know them as ah know myself.” His voice faded, a frown growing over his face. “Ah shouldn’t have lost. Ah…ah don’t know how ah…lost.” His voice had dropped down to a whisper, green eyes staring at the splayed deck.
“You’ve lost before,” noted Tanner mildly.
It took several moments before Ezra shook himself out of his brooding thoughts and looked up again. “Yes, indeed, ah have. No gambler, no matter how good, wins all the time. But when ah lose, ah know why. Ah always know why. And ah always know how. At least, ah used to. Mah mother said it was a good-given talent of mine, one of the few.” He winced and dropped his gaze, turning back to the bar, absently pushing some cards away from the spilt liquor.
If Vin hadn’t been right next to him, he wouldn’t have heard the rest.
“Big Lester Bangs won and ah don’t know how. Ah have no idea. If he beats me again, ah will deserve it. If ah cannot trust in mah own ability, in the one thing ah am sure of then…what will ah be? Who will ah be?” His head lifted and he seemed caught by his reflection in the mirror behind the bar. His lips tightened as he shook his head. He became aware of the tracker still standing beside him and rubbed a hand over his face, gaze lowering, but not before Vin caught the uncertainty and the fear in the eyes that looked back from that mirror. “If you do not mind, Mister Tannah, ah have a bottle to finish.”
“You know, you’re a lot more than just a gambler, Ez.” Vin waited until the green eyes met his, blinking to focus. “But you’re a damn good gambler all the same. Looks like that Big Lester fella just found a new way of cheatin’. He must be mighty clever, but I know you’ll figure it out.”
Ezra frowned, as if he was puzzling over Vin’s comments. “A new way of…hmm. Ah thought ah had tried them all,” he murmured. “But perhaps you are correct. It’s never too late to learn something new, as they say.” The gambler gave him a wan smile. Glancing at the bottle and then at the cards, he hailed the bartender with a shaky wave. “Mah good man, if you would be so kind as to put what remains of mah whiskey back into safekeeping for me, ah believe ah have had enough for the evening.” He picked up his cards and stuffed them into his pocket.
Ezra gave the tracker a swaying, half-bow Then he paused, brushing a knuckle across his lips before he spoke again. “Ah thank you for the words of encouragement, Vin.”
Vin gave the gambler a grin and a nod and turned away, slowly heading out the batwing doors.
Standing outside on the boardwalk, feeling the cool evening breeze against his face, Vin realized he was glad he hadn’t asked Ez for his help. He really didn’t want Ezra’s fancy writing for his poem. It wouldn’t be right. It wouldn’t fit him any more than one of Ezra’s fancy jackets.
What he really wanted was to be able to write down the words in his heart with his own hand. And he wanted to be able to read those words for himself, maybe read them out loud to a friend or two, if he felt like it. That’s what he really wanted.
It would be hard and it might take him a long time. Oh, he wanted it more than he ever did before, but he wasn’t sure if he could do it.
‘It’s never too late to learn something new.’
Maybe he would talk to Mary Travis about it in the morning. He glanced over his shoulder at the Saloon and then turned his gaze up to the stars that glittered across the deep night sky. “Never too late to learn,” he whispered, a smile just touching his lips.
Yes, he’d talk to Mary in the morning.