Date: Mon, 25 Nov 1996 11:14:58 -0800 (PST)
Title: Bet the Fat Boy

7am.  Owl Buffet's card room with Bud, Grubb, Jim, Azi, and me at the
card table.  Jim is nodding-out and has been since we started playing stud
poker 3 hours ago.

"I call, here's the Fat Boy for Azi." and I plunk the pink slip for my '95
Fat Boy Harley into the pot.  As if I HAVE to win Azi, right?

Bud turns his hole card, a ten of hearts. He holds a ten high straight,
rather than the straight flush he thought I thought he might have (he has a
6-7-8-9 of clubs showing).

I expose my hole card, eight of spades, filling a full boat, queens up.  I
have trip-queens with an eight, showing.

"Shit!"  Pause. Bud looks at me carefully. He's thinking he wants to question
either my judgement or my honesty.  After all, HE dealt the hand...
He asks,  "How'd you know?"

"Maybe I didn't.  It WAS worth the gamble.  One never knows."

Or should I have said, 'who knows?', or 'how do any of us know?', or 'what is
knowing?', or 'not to know is the ultimate knowing,'. Too many words and too
many ways to commit amphibology. In any case, I certainly knew what his
hole card was, because HE knew.  I seem always to know(?).

I pull in the pot which includes Bud's knife, his Yamaharley pink slip,
and Azi's freedom, along with $840 of Grubb's cash and weekly paycheck.

The paycheck is made out to 'cash'.  I wonder if 'Grubb' is his mother's
hypocorism, or if it's really his family or first name.  I KNOW better than
to ask.

*am.phi.bol.o.gy \.am(p)-f*-'ba:-*-je-\ n [ME amphibologie, fr. LL
amphibologia, alter. of L amphibolia], fr. Gk amphibolos 1: ambiguity in
language 2: a phrase or sentence ambiguous because of its grammatical
construction - called also amphiboly.

*hy.po.co.rism or hy.po.co.ris.ti.cal \hi--'pa:k-*-.riz-*m;
.hi--p*-'ko-(*)r-.iz-, -'ko.(*)r-\ \.hi--p*-k*-'ris-tik\ \-ti-k*l\
\-ti-k(*-)le-\ n [LL hypocorisma, fr. Gk hypokorisma, fr. hypokorizesthai
to c]all by pet names, fr. hypo- + korizesthai to caress, fr. koros boy,
kore- girl : a pet name or the use of pet names; also : EUPHEMISM -
hy.po.co.ris.ti.c aj.

later,
d.

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To travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive, and the true success
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