Ambition and Harry Stone

By Gary Leon Zimmer

The obituary read: Harry Stone, legendary gambler in the town of Intrepid, forty miles northeast of Pecos, drowned in the Pecos River following an accident last Sunday. A memorial service for Harry Stone will be held at The Poker Palladium, Intrepid, Texas, at 2 P.M. Thursday.

Harry Stone was a successful gambler in the small town of Intrepid, Texas. A highly talented card cheat, he had no peer when it came to palming a card or dealing seconds, but his specialty was blistering the cards . . . marking them in a way that was discernible only to Harry. His reputation as a skilled card shark grew and soon his name was known as far away as Lubbock and Fort Worth.

But the hero of Intrepid had ambition. He was bored with the locals and his reputation of rarely losing had spread far and wide. The trails leading to the sawdust floors of Intrepid’s saloons were no longer traveled by the famous and infamous card players of Texas. Harry’s boredom and the dearth of challenging opponents fed into his decision to leave Intrepid for the glamorous life of a riverboat gambler.

But he would not leave Intrepid without Pinky.

Pinky Gordon was the class of all the showgirls at the Poker Palladium, Intrepid’s largest gambling palace. In addition to being the showcased dancer at the Palladium, Pinky’s dulcet tones entertained guests during three separate shows throughout the evening. She was the wife of Tobias Gordon Sr., another gambler, lesser known than Harry Stone, and the mother of Tobias Gordon Jr., age thirteen.

A mild flirtation between Harry and the beauteous Pinky had flourished into what they thought were clandestine trysts in room seventeen upstairs from the Palladium’s main floor. If Harry had his way he would not be leaving the pedestrian ambiance of Intrepid for the glamour of gambling on the river without Pinky.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Leon Zimmer
• Release date: Dec 9, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370953790

Gary Leon Zimmer

The mid-size city of Yakima, Washington, was the spawning ground for both the late, internationally known Ray Carver, master of the quirky short-story, and Gary Leon Zimmer, author of 'One From New York and Two From Minnesota'. Carver and Zimmer grew up on the rougher eastside of Yakima, Carver without indoor plumbing and Zimmer in 'The House in the Alley between 1st and 2nd St. They were one year apart in school, Carver graduating from Yakima High School in 1956 and Zimmer, from the same school one year later. The small city of Yakima made little note of Carver's death. On the other side of an ocean, the London Times ran an obituary and a story about the immensely popular minimalist short-story writer. Carver's success came late in his life. He died in 1988 at the age of forty-nine. Zimmer is still writing. If you have comments you may review his story on Kindle or email him at: [e-mail]

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