Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge presented by my old friend Al Forbes.
The idea is to write a short story (200 word max) inspired by what you see in the picture (below).
This week’s prompt comes from the talented and charming Sascha Darlington, and took me down a bit of an unexpected side street.
Click on this link to enter your tale, and to see what others have written.
© Sascha Darlington
Click here to hear the author read his words:
Our Trespasses
I am alive.
Utterly, thrillingly, gut-churningly alive.
Okay, I promised her I would give up gambling and save for our future.
But the job hasn’t been what I expected.
With this recession I haven’t done the shifts I needed to get the cash together.
And more free time means I spent more.
I can just about pay for a smaller wedding, but no honeymoon.
But she deserves the best.
So when I heard about this poker game I couldn’t resist it.
And I have already doubled my money.
Well, I had, now it is all in the pot.
I can walk away with around five times my initial stake.
Or nothing.
The start to married life she dreams of.
Or goodbye.
I know she will never forgive me.
It all rests on this last card.
An Ace or a Nine give me a straight.
Any Spade gives me a flush.
And I am rich.
I know the odds.
My chances are almost fifty-fifty.
My whole life hangs on this card.
I can hear every breath in the room.
But I am calm.
There is nothing I can do.
Except watch as the dealer flips it over.
I stare at it.
And slowly close my eyes.
Sound Bite Fiction 
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Hi thankss for sharing this
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Hi Cecil, It’s not often I get a comment on a piece I wrote more than 5 years ago, but thanks for taking the time to read and comment.
Glad you enjoyed.
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Good mystery at that. As with many men, he probably should have walked away sooner, 9nowh when to quit. But I like to hope that maybe, this once, one of these gambelers actually won, so he doesn’t hurt his fiancée. Hugs CE. Glad to read your work today, I have missed it 😊
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He’s a winner! And from here on he will no longer gamble…because he’ll be married and his wife will sort him out…and then he’ll kill her…because I’ve read that story right here. 😉
Many thanks for your kind words, btw. 🙂
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Oh, bummer. Either way, there’s heartache in this man’s future. If not over this hand, it’ll be one in the not-too-distant future. Does that make me a pessimist or a realist?
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Really, Mandie, bummer?
What a charmingly unladylike expression, this made me laugh aloud!
I would put my money on ‘realist’, except gambling is one vice I don’t have.
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Haha
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The tension is palpable. I’ll go for nothing, the house always wins.
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Thank you for your visit, your comment, and your bet!
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I really do love your writing.
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I really do love your comment.
Thank you, Rosemary, I am smiling now, and the sun has got his hat on!
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That one could definitely go either way.
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All on that card, James
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Sounds like he is in trouble. His bride may have had a lucky escape.
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Aha, the pessimist viewpoint!
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There’s nothing quite like an all-or-nothing poker hand for some dramatic tension. Nice cliffhanger as to the outcome. I know which way I think it’s gone for him…
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Thanks, Iain.
The question is are you a glass half full or …
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