Wild Cards 13 : Card Sharks by George R.R. Martin Read Free Book Online Page B

baseball cards at that age, it was feeling scared and alone. When I slid one of my bright yellow arms across her rounded shoulders, under her ponytail, she leaned against me and really began to cry.
    I put my other arm around her. Being shorter than she was, with short arms, made this awkward. She cried for what seemed like a long time, and I just sat there with my arms stretched almost around her, yellow against her white blouse.
    Finally Flo took some deep breaths and used the tissues in her hand. Reluctantly, I withdrew the arm that was in front of her, but dared to keep the other over her shoulders. Then, with her tissues wadded in one hand, she turned toward me.
    Her eyes were wet and red, her eye makeup running. She had put on more lipstick after dinner. It was bright red.
    I had certainly never kissed a girl. With my immense front teeth, I wasn't even sure that I could kiss a girl, properly. I looked from her deep brown eyes down to her perfect lips.
    You know, I don't know where I got the guts, but I just did it. I kissed her. If she had jumped up and slapped me, I wouldn't have been surprised, but she didn't. She kissed me back.
    It lasted a long time. I couldn't tell if my teeth were a problem. Then I forgot about them.
    Tears were still welling from her eyes. She took one of my hands and slid it to the front of her blouse. When I caressed her, she kissed me again.
    This time she broke quickly and whispered in my ear, her breath hot. "Let's go to your room."
    "But ... I ... don't have a, uh, you know. A rubber."
    A tight smile altered her features for just a moment. "Chuck, I'm already pregnant, remember? Come on."
    I got up, still clinging to her. I was certainly not going to argue very hard. Besides, it was her choice.
    In my bedroom, we stepped over dirty socks and the wadded up dungarees I had worn to work yesterday. I turned on the little fan my parents had given me.
    Flo stopped by the bed and stepped out of her penny loafers. Then she began to unbutton her blouse. I sat down on the bed and switched on the little portable six-transistor radio on the nightstand under the lamp.
    "... Never knew what I missed until I kissed ya. ..." It was the Everly Brothers' new release, quick and bouncy.
    The only light angled in from the hall. Standing half in the light, she let her skirt drop to a puddle around her feet and then unfastened her white crinolines. She unhooked her bra and tossed it aside, letting her large breasts swing free. Then she bent forward and slid her white underpants down. Only the pearls still glistened on her body.
    I watched as she sat down next to me. Then I tugged my t-shirt up over my head, revealing my fat belly. I really wished I had washed up a little after we had come back here.
    She was the one who knew what to do. Slowly, on the narrow single bed, a girl with a gorgeous face, large breasts, and slender, shapely legs made all my wildest adolescent fantasies come true.
    ***
    "They ran so fast that a hound couldn't catch 'em, down the Mississippi to the Gulf o' Mexico. ..."
    Johnny Horton was gleefully singing about the Battle of New Orleans on the little transistor radio. I opened my eyes and stared at a crack in the ceiling. "Oh ... I must have dozed off."
    Flo smiled at me. I wondered what she had thought of me. After all, I'd never done that before.
    "I don't ..." She was whispering. "I don't want you to think I - well, I don't always do this."
    "I didn't think so," I said quietly.
    Her face was close to mine. "My father hates the wild card. He taught me what it's done to people. He even ... showed me."
    "I don't have it so bad. Not when you look around Jokertown."
    "My Mom wasn't ... like him. You sort of remind me ... not your looks, but I mean ... you're real decent."
    "Thank you." For me, the idea that the people who had always despised jokers could have nice daughters was a new thought.
    "Jokertown ... is going to be destroyed," she said suddenly.
    "Hm?"
    "Jokertown is going to be