Half of Paradise

The bets went down on the blanket. Clois knelt on one knee and rubbed the dice between his hands. J.P. watched and didn’t bet. Clois rolled.

“Six is my point. Right back the hard way,” he said, and put two more dollars on the blanket. He cracked the dice between his palms. “Come on, cover it. I ain’t got all night.”

He shot four times. His shirt collar was damp with sweat. There were small beads of perspiration over his face and in the stubble of his beard. He retrieved the dice and on the fifth throw he made his point.

“Thirty-three, the hard way,” he said. He picked up the bills and put them in front of him. “Shooting it all.”

The others covered him. He rolled a seven.

“Let it ride,” he said.

He made three more passes and he had a good pile of bills and change in front of him.

“I’ll shoot five this time,” he said.

“What’s the matter?” a man said.

“The dice ain’t good forever.” He picked up all the money except a five-dollar bill and put it in his pocket. He bounced the dice off the wall.

“Boxcars. You get some of your green back,” he said.

“You always drag at the right time,” a man said.

“It’s part of knowing how to play.”

“Give me the goddamn dice,” the man said.

“You fellows don’t know how to lose.”

“You talk too much.”

“Roll the dice.”

“You want in, J.P.?” a man said. “All right.”

He knelt in the circle with the others and put three dollars in the center of the blanket. He rolled a four.

“Little Joe at the cathouse do’,” Clois said. “I’m betting he makes it.”

“Put your money down, smart man.”

“Ten bucks

. Give me three to one,” Clois said.

“You’re on,” the man said.

J.P. made it on the second pass. He let his money ride and crapped out. The bartender brought in a tray of sandwiches and beer. One of the men put a bill on the tray. The dice came around to J.P. again and he shot five dollars and threw a three.

“I ain’t hot tonight,” he said.

“You ain’t made your point yet. You still got another shot,” Clois said.

“Shooting ten,” J.P. said.

“Fade,” a man said, covering his bet.

He rolled an eleven and doubled his money. He shot the twenty and doubled again.