Saloon

Now that Lisa was down sixty dollars and there was no way she could make that much money back in one day from a job, she decided to try her luck with gambling at the saloon. So, dismounting her horse at the nearest saloon, she pushed the doors open and checked it out.

The saloon was as run down as the rest of the town, plus, it smelled of beer and rotting wood. Sighing, she looked at the many different poker tables, deciding which one to play at. Then, she noticed a table with three men playing. It was the table with the same three men who had just stolen sixty dollars from her.

Walking up to it, she took a seat, flashing the three of them a bitter smile.

“Ah, come to get your money back?” one of them asked.

“Yep.” She nodded.

“Very well. The minimum’s five dollars.”

He tossed her the needed cards, and they began playing.

An hour went by, and Lisa found that she was up twenty dollars. She was enjoying her luck, and the men around her were not only not angry, but they were also impressed. They enjoyed playing with a challenging card player, but, as they were going into their next game, they heard horses galloping by. The reaction within the saloon was immediate. Many of the drinkers froze in place, the bartender ducked down, bringing back up a shotgun, and every player at the poker tables put down their cards and took cover under the tables. Only Lisa and her table remained sitting.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“The Black Lynchers.” One of the men replied. “We have a deal in this saloon as well as the three others. When the Black Lynchers come, every card player can decide whether to fold and pay the winner ten dollars, or, they can continue playing, and whoever loses that hand has to go out and face the Black Lynchers in a showdown.”

“So, the winner makes hundreds of dollars and the loser gets stuck in a gunfight?” Lisa asked.

The man nodded.

“What if everyone folds except for one person?” Lisa continued.

“Than that person gets the money and the honor of fighting the Lynchers.”

Lisa thought that over. Two of the men had already folded, and the last man was waiting for her to decide. She could risk it and try to make all of her money back as well as hundreds more, or she could just pay ten dollars and keep the ten she had already won. She looked at her hand, three of a kind. She thought it over.