Page 30 of Prognosis So Done

‘Never say never,’ Gill chided lightly as his chips dwindled down to the last few. The kitty was very healthy now.

‘I’ll see you,’ said Siobhan.

Damn! He’d hoped he could bluff her into folding. ‘Pair of kings,’ he said, with a confidence he didn’t feel.

She leaned in close and whispered, ‘Full house.’

The table erupted in whistles and cheers as Siobhan all but cleaned Gill out. Helmut gave her a high five.

They kept playing for a while longer. Gill won back some of his chips, mainly from Harriet who was particularly hopeless at poker, but Siobhan had them all cleaned out within twenty minutes.

Helmut threw his cards on the table in frustration. ‘How

does she do that?’ he asked no one in particular.

Just then a muffled explosion went off somewhere in the distance. Not close but not too far away either. Several more followed in short succession and the atmosphere changed abruptly. There was tension now among the group, alertness.

Cards remained unshuffled, magazines unread, Scrabble tiles untouched as they strained their ears and listened in silence to the popping of distant gunfire and the crump of explosions that continued unabated. It sounded like fireworks but they all knew it wouldn’t be remotely pretty when the wounded started to arrive.

‘We’d better eat something,’ said Gill. ‘No telling when

we’ll next get the chance.’

---