"Son, choose again. I have glaucoma; I'm nearly as blind as a bat,"
She declined, but Shaun smiled. "I have a good feeling about you, Grandma; I feel like you have been my lucky charm". It caused a smile to grace the old lady's face.
"Stretching that luck of the Irish thing a bit too thin, don't you think, Youngblood?" Teased Big Steve.
One thing was sure: until the day he died, there was no forgetting this stupid Kid. The game was already rigged, but this just sold it even further.
But his pepped up demeanour instantly changed, and his heart sunk with Shaun's following words,
"So, Grandma, all you have to do is pick one of those cups, but I have so much faith in you that I'll even change the terms and lessen my odds. Instead of choosing a cup with a pearl underneath, I am betting you will find the one out of three that does not have a pearl".
"Wait! What kind of shit are you trying to pull, Kid?" Shouted Big Steve, infuriated by Shaun's blatant disregard for the rules.
"I'm not trying to pull off anything, Big Steve. Oldblood, if anything, your odds of success are increased. There are two pearls on the board and only one cup without. You did agree to my terms beforehand." Shaun smiled while Big Steve struggled for a rebuttal.
"This??!!" Big Steve's forehead became so sweaty he had to grab a handkerchief from his pocket. But Shaun sought to make him squirm even further. "Didn't he, everyone?" He brought the crowd, which had grown to about fifty, into the argument.
"Yes, you did, you bastard. Don't go changing your words now. Plus, the Kid is only giving you the same odds you gave us!" Shouted one man who had lost over a hundred dollars in his bet.
Big Steve gritted his teeth; he had lost control of the situation. If he were to renege now, these people would riot. He then gave a slight glance to a woman in the audience who immediately stepped to the next side of the road.
A woman then screamed, "Help! He stole my purse!!" At that moment, everyone's head shifted in that direction, and Big Steve had his chance. After the distraction, he moved closer to the table; three shiny pearls were in his hand. After doing the deed, he was readying to sympathize with the crowd, but to his bewilderment, Shaun had first him.
Shaun: "Ok, I have had a change of heart. I'm a just person, and it was wrong of me to come and change the terms of Big Steve's game. We will play as originally agreed. Grandma chose a cup with a pearl underneath."
Big Steve had never cried in over twenty years, but now he was fighting back the tears. Right after he switched all the pearls on the table, the asshole decided to have a change of heart. It was too coincidental. He looked Shaun up and down; there was no way he had seen through his movements. But could one person be so lucky?
"Are you sure, son?" The older woman once more was hesitant.
"I'm sure, grandma", Shaun responded, helping the old woman to the table. The two gingerly moved, and when she finally arrived and picked up a cup, there was a shiny pink pearl underneath. The street erupted in euphoria. It was remarkable; what were the odds?
Sweat ran profusely from Big Steve's face. In under a matter of minutes, he had lost five hundred dollars of hard-earned cash to some no-name kid.
Ehem! - Shaun coughed with his outstretched hand, indicating he wanted his three hundred bucks. Once more, Big Steve could not renege and was forced to fork over the cash. He truly hated Shaun, he had been shot ten times in the past, but he did not hate that man as the Kid who stood before him.
Yet Shaun didn't care one bit counting the cash before giving the old lady fifty to put in her purse.
"Such a nice young man," She pinched Shaun's cheek in glee. It only further enraged Big Steve; not only was his money stolen before his eyes, but now the Kid was even giving away his cash like it was nothing.
"Give me one last chance. This time I will double your winnings." Instantly one thousand cash was placed on the table. Seeing a few other hustlers joining the crowd, Big Steve knew his reputation was now on the line.
"That cash is too low for me, add another five hundred, and we have a deal," Shaun replied as he shrewdly folded the cash in Big Steve's view.
"Fine!" Agreed Big Steve though he saw the objection from his associates within the crowd. They wanted to cut their losses and be done. But this was more than mere losses of cash at this point. If he were to leave at this juncture, he could not look the other hustlers in their eyes.
He moved to the table but saw Shaun shake his finger, "No-no, I feel lucky, so let me try this shuffling thing, and you choose".
Big Steve could not believe the Kid's ego when hearing his words.
He was hustling more years than the Kid had life. The lucky guesses had gotten to his head. He didn't know that it now became a training exercise for Shaun.
"Fine, just don't let them spill out. I would hate to be called a cheat by your adoring audience." Laughed Big Steve, whose mood had instantly changed. He could bet his life's savings on predicting everything correctly.
Even if this Kid were a hustler, it would do him no good. You see, there was an unwritten rule in hustler's paradise. Never go to another hustler's table as it would be suicide. The reason is that a hustler could always see the moves because they had tried every one in the book.
Shaun paid Big Steve no mind; he began his shuffle as everyone looked on in anticipation. He started slowly, causing Big Steve to grin.
"You got to do better than that!" He jeered. But the smile soon faded when he saw Shaun's hands speed up rapidly. It was mystifying; if he didn't know better and could feel his hands attached to his body, he could swear he was the one shuffling. That was because it was his moves currently being employed against him.
He saw an innocent smile on Shaun's face but felt as though he stared at a devil. How could this Kid learn his moves? Now he was certain Shaun was a fellow hustler but soon regained his confidence. Shaun had made a fatal flaw; he lifted one of the cups showing hints of a pink pearl. All Steve had to do was follow that cup, and it was all in the bag. Finally, Shaun stopped his shuffle, halting the cups.
Immediately Big Steve had his hand on the middle cup, "Nice try, kid, but a message to the wise, hustler's paradise is not for the faint of heart".
Shaun: "Are you sure that's the one you want?"
"Let's not play this game; we both know I am right," He said before lifting the cup and couldn't help but gasp for air.
"What? Impossible!" Big Steve screamed when he saw only emptiness.
"I guess we would both be wrong then, huh?" Said Shaun. He hurriedly put the thousand plus bucks into his coat.
There was no way in hell he would count it this time round. Big Steve was livid; he was confident in what he saw. Unless…, that slip up where he saw the pearl was intentional from Shaun. It was bait, and he fell for it. Shaun had baited him with the pearl and then flicked it into his coat.
"You cheated, Big Steve, there are no pearls on that board".
It was forbidden to tell another hustler's secrets, but he did not care. Shaun didn't reply, he simply lifted the two cups, and Big Steve could not believe his eyes.
Perhaps it was out of embarrassment, but he lunged at Shaun to the fright of the crowd. The two pears were there and accounted for.
But just as a few men were about to come to Shaun's aid, they saw Big Steve stagnant and a fist wrapped in white cloth smashed against his gut.
He then dropped face-first into the asphalt like a sack of potatoes.
"What a pity, Big Steve, I liked you", Shaun grinned before walking through the crowd that parted for him.
"Over here, Dad," he waved to a cop leaving a store. It instantly caused Big Steve's three accomplices to tilt their heads in the other direction.
Yet they gasped when seeing that same cop enter his squad car, but Shaun was nowhere to be seen. They could only look back on big Steve as he lay face down. The mighty hustler would be mentioned in Hustler's Paradise anecdotes for years. The only thing was it might not be for the reasons he had hoped.