Tuesday

At some point between Japanese restaurants I found a Wild Joker laying on the street, yesterday. This is the first card of my fifth Saigon Stud Poker hand. Cut to today. Sunshine and I ate Indian food tonight at the oddly named Alibaba restaurant. And I nearly endured a poker tragedy. Right down from our apartment, on the corner of Nguyễn Thị Minh Khai Street across from Reunification Palace, there was a scooter shop today. Scooter shops move, corner to corner, and are easily located by decorative tire tubes propped together and merrily striped with foil ribbon. When something goes wrong with a passing five-hundred-dollar Chinese scooter, and something usually does, these guys can get the thing going again. Usually, there's an innertube shingle advertising a temporary mechanic every few blocks. Today's mechanics were set up at the corner where we cross the park south toward Alibaba. They happened to be doing business on a stretch of sidewalk just littered with abandoned playing cards. From where we stood, waiting for the light, I could see seven cards lost between disassembled bikes and people sitting around eating--but there was no way I was going to wade in there to pick up their garbage, you know? Our dinner was wonderful, by the way. After we got home, after Sunshine went to bed, I trekked back down the block to see what, if anything, was left. I found eight cards in all, avoiding poker tragedy: added to yesterday's Joker are the Queen hearts, Two hearts, Eight hearts, and Five diamonds, rounding out my hand. Plus, the house drew the Jack hearts, Eight diamonds, Nine hearts, and Three hearts and is waiting for its last card.* The only way the City can beat my pair Queens is with a flush-pair now. [Cavin]