The Saga of Shady Bill: A Tale of the Sportsmen's Club

By David Seed

The Sportsmen's Club is a two-story, skid-row structure of connected buildings housing a bar, a poker room, and a Chinese restaurant. The Sportsmen's Hotel reaches across the upper floor.
Business depends on a subculture of alcoholics, hustlers, shills, gamblers, and those in need of a cheap room. Among them is Alexander Kyness who seems to have chosen the club as a place in which to live a life of obscurity. His friends call him "Kindness."
In this odd little world of greed, deception, and predation, Kindness maintains an attitude of detachment. But his aversion to entanglement may meet its match in "Little Doll" Grey, the bar manager whose formidable wit keeps order over the misfits and malcontents in this place where something interesting always happens.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Western Grebe Publishing
• Release date: Apr 20, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301665518

David Seed

###About the author:David Seed was born August 15, 1931 in Minot, North Dakota. In his eleventh year the family moved to Dunsmuir, California where he graduated high school, believing himself to be a writer. In the fall of 1949 he started at the University of California at Berkeley and did his best to learn what he could of life. He managed to graduate in the spring of 1956 and continued to follow his calling, experiencing a chaotic life as both participant and observer. He is now an old man writing books in Oregon.

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Tales of the Sportsmen’s Club

The Saga of Shady Bill

by David Seed

Smashwords Edition

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Western Grebe Publishing

Copyright David Seed 2013

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

The Saga of Shady Bill

About the Author

PROLOGUE

The Sportsmen's Club is a two-story, skid-row structure of connected buildings housing a bar, a poker room, and a Chinese restaurant. The Sportsmen's Hotel reaches across the upper floor.

Business depends on a subculture of alcoholics, hustlers, shills, gamblers, and those in need of a cheap room. Among them is Alexander Kyness who seems to have chosen the club as a place in which to live a life of obscurity. His friends call him Kindness.

In this odd little world of greed, deception, and predation, Kindness maintains an attitude of detachment. But his aversion to entanglement may meet its match in Little Doll Grey, the bar manager whose formidable wit keeps order over the misfits and malcontents in this place where something interesting always happens.

The Saga of Shady Bill

I've known Shady Bill for five years and watched him come and go like the seasons, but I don't expect to ever see him again. He's a legend now, and like most legends, he couldn't achieve that status until he was gone.

He was called Shady Bill because he wore sunglasses day and night. He believed that eyes are windows to the soul, and the last thing he wanted showing was his soul. He played high-stakes lo-ball and dreamed of hitting it big. Like Sisyphus he pushed that dream up the hill to middle age.

Three years ago Shady Bill had the longest losing streak in club history. He booked thirty-four straight losses and didn’t take off his sunglasses.

I remember the morning after his thirty-fourth loss like it was yesterday. I can still see him dragging himself into the bar and climbing onto the stool next to me.

Would you believe, he says, thirty-four straight?

We heard about it, I say.

Can I get you something, Bill? Little Doll asks.

Shady Bill throws up his hands like maybe she’s holding a gun on him.

Sorry, Doll, he says. I’m flatter than North Dakota.

Don’t worry about it, she says and brings him a cup of coffee.

I play tough last night, he says and turns his sunglasses toward me.

That’s what I heard.

I zig and zag and win a few little pots, he says. I hang around even street and wait for the noodles. An hour before closing time two live ones get in the game. They’re half lit and have plenty of money. They pump chips into every pot, and everyone chases them. I win a good pot and I’m ahead of the game. Then on the very next hand I pick up a pat six-four.

Ernie Sales told us about it, I say, but I know we’re going to hear it again. Shady Bill practices self-analysis. He’s his own therapist and manages to stay sane by recounting his lo-ball disasters with good humor. The more stories he tells about himself, the better he feels.

"I squeeze out six-four-ace-duce-trey and figure my losing streak is over. I have the noodles and the chips