He took a drink of his whiskey before picking up his cards. As he was doing this, he noticed that Duncan was not sitting down to play, but another man was taking his place.
"Hey, man, I thought we were playing cards. We not playing cards?" he slurred, waving his hand around to demonstrate his meaning.
Duncan looked up, smirking, "I'm providing the money, but my friend here is going to actually play."
Shrugging, Jackson took another sip from his whiskey before beginning the game. He placed his bet for the first round and continued upping the stakes. He had a good hand and, he admitted to himself, the drink was getting to him, making him a little less cautious, but that made this all the more fun! He was rich! What was there to lose?
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| Poker game found on Wikimedia Commons |
He played it off as a bad round and kept playing, hoping to get some of his money back. He bet his stocks, he bet his money, he bet his watch, his car, his house. Each time he bet more and more, hoping that he would win back everything, but it was no use.
He'd lost all his material possessions before he really started to go downhill. With an entire bottle of whiskey down and another one started, he jokingly bet his brother. And Duncan accepted. It went on like this until all he had left was his wife, Gina. He'd even bet and lost himself.
"I can't," he said, hiccuping. "I have nothing left, only my wife and I could not possibly bet her."
At this, Duncan threw his head back, laughing, "And why not? You have bet others, you have bet yourself, why can you not bet her?"
Finally, he agreed. He had one more chance, just one! One more chance to save everything he had lost. As the cards were dealt, he held his breath, praying to anyone who would listen to save him from this, but as he lifted his cards, he knew it was not to be. There was no way he could win with this hand.
Not only had he lost everything, but he had caused the ruin of everyone he held dear. It was over.
Author's Notes
This story was inspired by the story of Yudhishthira and Duryodhana playing dice and Yudhishthira betting and losing everything, including his wife and brothers. I just could not imagine betting other people as though he owned them and could bet them, so I added the alcohol factor to make this more understandable in the more modern context of my story. I also had them playing some type of card game instead of dice. I should have used a dice game because I have no idea how to play poker, which is what they are supposed to be playing. I just had a picture in my head of a poker game in a smoky back room with whiskey and a slowly disintegrating Yudhishthira (Jackson). Duryodhana is represented by Duncan and Gina is Draupadi. I changed their names to fit the more modern context of this story and the setting I chose. This story came from the public domain version of the Mahabharata.
First off, I have to say that I love the picture that you used! As the first thing I saw on your blog, it really grabbed my attention. You made really good use of dialogue, and overall I thought the story felt very realistic. I also can’t imagine betting other people, but I guess as king, Yudhishthira could do this. I don’t imagine that this could be done in a modern Western context (at least I hope not).
ReplyDeleteHey Natallie Collins! I really enjoyed your twist to the story in the Mahabharata. It was cool to see how you changed the story of Yudhishthira betting and losing everything. The character in the book and in your story both made terrible decisions that cost them dearly. You have a good imagination to create a story like this. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThis was a very clever interpretation of the original story! I absolutely loved reading the first part of the story where you set up the scene of the back room where they are playing poker. You did a very good job of using dialogue to help the reader picture Jackson's character and I was also able to tell who each of the characters in this story were supposed to represent with ease. This was a very well written story.
ReplyDeleteHi Natalie! I liked your interpretation of this story--I think it's a pretty popular one, but you did an excellent job of making it your own! I think your description of poker was just fine, and the picture you chose was fitting for Jackson's continual bad hands. I liked being able to see into Jackson's head where he was making all of the bad decisions, and it made a good point that alcohol definitely played into it. Overall, very well written and easy to read, great job!
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