KATHARSIS (Chapter Twenty-One)

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We got back to the house and Alex immediately set about distributing what was left of the bourbon into red plastic Solo cups, while I meanwhile put the top on the bumper pool table with the poker side up, dug up a pack of poker chips from a suitcase in my room, and found a roughed up pack of cards sitting in a random window sill covered in cigarette ash. For seats we had two stools, the blue and white armchair, and a swivel chair, all of which were too short for the table but would have to do. We all took our places— me on the swivel chair by the door, Alex on the stool to my left, Lin on the other side of the table in the armchair, and the girl, whose name I’d heard but already forgotten, decided to just sit on the arm of Lin’s chair instead of taking the stool beside it. We all threw in the twenty dollar buy-in. As we set up the game and divvied out the chips, Alex regaled us with tales of his poker exploits and made clear that he was the expert among us. He would go easy on us, he said, because this was all just for fun and not about the money anyway. Lin’s bullshit detector seemed to be working as well as mine, and after every few things that Alex said he’d look over at me with his eyebrows raised like do you really believe any of this shit he’s saying? And I’d shrug back like beats me, but fuck it.

The game began, Alex dealing, and I drew pocket kings. I raised. Alex called and raised. Lin called. The girl folded. I called. Another king came down on the flop. Another on the turn. I bet a quarter of my stack, hoping it was a small enough bet that they’d think I was bluffing and call me on it, then I’d double it on the river. To my surprise, Alex stared at me then said, “All in.” He grimly pushed his chips into the center of the table, but I said, “Wait, wait, wait— are you sure you want to do that? I’ve got a really good hand and I don’t want you to go out in the first hand. You’ll have to watch the whole rest of the game from the sideline and that’ll suck, so, just this once, if you want to take it back you can.”

His expression still grave, he said “All in.”

Lin folded. I called. I flipped my cards and Alex said “Damn it!”

He flipped his and he didn’t have anything. His high card was a seven and he only had a pair from the two kings in the center. It was the worst bluff I’d ever seen. I raked all the chips over to my side and said, "Hey, we’re only one hand in. If you want to buy back in I’m sure we’d all be okay with that." Lin and the girl both agreed, so Alex put another twenty down and got another stack of chips.

The very next hand, he went all in again. He lost. I said, "Look, dude, you can buy back in one more time, but only if you don’t go all in on the first hand again."

His look of faux-seriousness had now become more authentic, probably from the humiliation he was feeling at being exposed as a terrible poker player. He said, “Why don’t we make this a real game. Five-thousand dollar buy in.”

The rest of us burst out laughing, the girl nearly falling off her perch on the armrest. I said, “Alex, Alex, I don’t even have five-thousand dollars to my name, and even if I did, I wouldn’t put it on a post-bar poker game at one in the morning.”

Lin said, “Yes, Alex, this is too much money. I thought we just play for fun?”

Alex glared out at everyone. “Fine,” he said. “Ten thousand.”

We all burst out laughing again, and I was like, “Alex, that’s fucking ridiculous. No one is going to play for that kind of money. Just put another twenty down, buy back in, and if you can survive more than one hand then we can talk about raising the stakes.”

The game started back up, and after he’d made it through a few hands unscathed Alex started to relax again, asking questions of the two Koreans. So where did you two meet? School, right. And what are you two doing in America? Ah, right, school, of course. And where are you from? Ahhh, Jungsu, I hear it’s beautiful there. I’ve always wanted to go there. And where’s that soccer jersey from? The one you’re wearing… The Sangju Sangmu’s? Holy shit! That’s my favorite soccer team in South Korea! Well, in the world really. I love that jersey. I want that jersey. How much for it?

Lin laughed and waved the offer away with his hand. “It’s not for sale,” he said. “Let’s just play poker.” He darted a glance at me again, as if to say where did you find this guy?

Alex, not one who liked to be denied, said, “I’ll give you three thousand dollars for that jersey right now.”

I put my face in my palms and Lin said, “It’s not for sale. Besides, this is just a t-shirt made to look like a jersey. You can order this shirt online for probably ten dollars and have it here in a week.”

“Okay,” Alex said. “Ten thousand.”

“It’s not for sale.”

“Thirty thousand.”

At this point I felt compelled to intervene, and I was getting thoroughly irritated by the way Alex insisted on flaunting his wealth in such idiotic and obnoxious ways, as if spending thirty grand on a t-shirt would make the Korean girl want to sleep with him, so I said, “Alex, I hope you wouldn’t be dumb enough to spend that kind of money on a t-shirt, but if you are, I’ve got plenty you might be interested in. Can we get back to the game?”

The girl suddenly announced, “My Uber is here,” and she stood up from the chair with her high-heels in her hand. Alex looked panic-stricken, and he leapt up to try to keep her from leaving. “What? Where are you going? Why?”

“I’m tired,” she said. “Bye. It was nice meeting you both. Thank you for the drink.”

Without even mentioning her twenty dollars that were still on the table she hugged Lin goodbye, waved to Alex and I, and started heading for the door, which was already open because we’d been trying to blow the cigarette smoke outside. Alex stood in front of her and spread his arms for a hug, and she reluctantly allowed herself to be embraced. He started whispering something in her ear and the discomfort in her expression increased exponentially until she said, “No thanks,” shook herself free, and scurried out the door without looking back.

“I’m going to make another drink,” Alex said, and he walked down the hallway toward the kitchen without offering Lin or I anything. As soon as he’d rounded the corner I felt something soft touch my bare foot. It was Lin. His sock-covered feet were touching mine, deliberately, rubbing them in a sexual invitation. I looked up and across the table he was looking right at me. He smiled. I jerked my feet away and said, “I have to use the restroom!” I got up and fled down the hallway, and when I got to the kitchen I found Alex slumped down against a big trash bag in the corner that no one had gotten around to taking out. I couldn’t tell if he’d laid there deliberately or just collapsed, but in any case it seemed he’d saved all his energy trying to woo and impress that girl, and now that she was gone the fumes had run out and he’d hit the wall, so to speak, and now here he was, sleeping on a bag full of rotting food. I didn’t want to go back and see Lin again, it was too awkward, so I went into Buddy’s empty room and locked the door behind me. The last thing I remember is Lin’s voice calling down the hallway, “Theo? Alex? Hello? I’m going to leave now. Goodbye!” then the vague thought that I’d left my Katharax in my bedroom and I’d have to go back for it, and then it was the morning, or maybe the early afternoon, and I was on my shitty little bed, all my clothes on, crust in my nostril, a headache pulsing behind my eyeballs, and a bitter taste in the back of my mouth, and all I could think was that I’d like nothing more than to be asleep again immediately, take another Katharax, put myself on autopilot for the day, and maybe, if I felt up to it, take back the reigns of my life again tomorrow.

TO BE CONTINUED

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