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grayer hue and somehow seemed clearer than before he’d had his drinks.
    Mike sat on the edge of his chair with his hands folded upon the table. His eyes snapped back and forth between Virgil and Doc while he nervously licked his lips. When the drinks came, he pounded back a swig of whiskey before slapping down the empty glass and refilling it. “If all I wanted was a drink, I’d be standin’ at the bar,” he grunted.
    “Hear, hear,” Doc said, tapping his own glass against the table. “Since it doesn’t look like anyone else wants to join us, let’s get this show under way.”
    Caleb stepped up and delivered a fresh deck of cards to the table. He spread them out and made sure everyone had a chance to count them before giving them a shuffle and stepping back. Although some players got a little impatient having to wait through that little ritual, Caleb found that enough fights were avoided that way to make it worth everyone’s while.
    “Care to do the honors?” Doc asked while glancing toward Mike.
    Mike’s lips curled a bit, but when he saw that Doc was pointing toward the deck of cards, he quickly brightened up. “Don’t mind if I do,” he said while reaching out to snatch the cards and deal them out. One at a time, he flipped five cards to each person at the table.
    Doc accepted his cards as though he was already disappointed, picking them up and searching through them one by one. “So many choices,” he said.
    The old miner beside Doc fanned out his cards and shook his head. “Wish I had that problem.”
    Going by Virgil’s expression, he might as well have been looking at empty space.
    The cowboy’s frown grew with every card he saw. When he’d managed to get a look at all of them, the twitch at the corner of his mouth was enough to alert anyone watching that he was less than happy with what he saw.
    Mike smirked a bit when he saw his first two cards but lost his enthusiasm when he saw the other three.
    Although he wasn’t making a big show of it, Doc watched everything everyone else was doing. He let his eyes stay on Mike, however, as he shook his head and said, “Two high cards but no pair? I hate when that happens.”
    “What’d you do, Holliday? Mark these cards? You workin’ with that Injun saloon owner?”
    “He doesn’t have to be working with anyone,” Virgil said. “Not so long as you’re willing to air out your business for everyone to see. Why don’t you just save a step and hold your cards the other way around?”
    Before Mike could say another word, he was distracted by the sound of laughter coming from his right. When he looked over, he found the cowboy snickering while trying to keep his eyes on his cards.
    “You think that’s funny?”
    Saving the cowboy from having to dig himself out of a hole, Doc tossed in a chip and was immediately raised by the miner next to him.
    “Got a hold of a hand, Orville?” Doc asked.
    The miner shrugged, seeming to get a kick out of Doc’s banter while also trying not to respond to it. Apparently, Holliday saw something in the other man’s demeanor, since he nodded to himself and watched as the others tossed in enough to match the bet.
    “I suppose I’ll call,” Doc sighed. “I’ll also take two more cards.” He flipped his discards over to Mike and sipped his whiskey.
    Following suit, the miner grunted, “Three for me.”
    “I’ll take the same,” said Virgil.
    After suppressing the rest of his laughter, the cowboy flipped away two of his cards and waited for the replacements.
    “Dealer takes two,” Mike said, stressing the last word and glaring over at Doc.
    The dentist shrugged without even looking over to Mike. “No need to keep hold of that third card on my account.”
    Doc hardly even looked at his two new cards before reaching for his chips and tossing a handful into the pot.
    “Ten dollars?” the cowboy asked.
    The miner was the one to respond first. “I’ll cover that.” “Me, too,” Virgil said. “And