The rabbi breathed a fervent prayer upon the speckled cubes and cast
them away from him into the outer darkness. "Freckle tops, git right!
Bam! I reads seven. Lets it lay. Shoots a hund'ed!"
"Roll 'em, you'se faded." The Wildcat trimmed himself for another
hundred.
The rabbi made another throw. "Luck dice, ketch dat Wilecat. Whuff! An'
dey says five an' a six. Dey sho' is lucky."
The Wildcat grunted. "Lucky fo' you."
"Pussonel luck is de luck I likes best," the rabbi returned. "I lets it
lay. You has yo' chance. Shoots two hund'ed."
The Wildcat skinned his roll for two hundred dollars. "Dese heah frog
skins sho' has got de quick dwindles. You'se faded. Roll 'em."
The rabbi abandoned his ecclesiastical lingo and fell into the
vernacular. "Tiger dice, claw me! Turtle dice, off de log! Soap dice,
git slick. Clean dat Wilecat. Gun dice, pull de triggah--wham! An' I
reads six-ace."
The Wildcat's fingers began to itch for the possession of the bones. He
turned to the Mud Turtle, who was close beside him. "Hot dam, boy, dat
talk sho' sounds nat'chul! Dat boy growed up someplace else befo' he
started de rabbi business."
The rabbi raked in his winnings. He slipped half the roll and laid it
on the green cloth. "Shoots two hund'ed. Fade me is you reckless!"
The Wildcat was in too deep to back out. He pared two hundred dollars
from his roll and laid it beside the rabbi's stake. "Boy, yo' luck's
got to bus' sometime, even is you a rabbi. Roll 'em an' see kin you
roll to de po' house."
The rabbi spoke confidentially to the dice for a few moments and then
his voice lifted above the murmur of the congregation. "Snow babies,
let de soot specs read seven. Rooster dice, crow de pay call! Hen dice,
hatch de money eggs. Mule dice, kick dat boy into de rivah! Bam! An' I
reads five-dooce."
This triumph of the rabbi was a signal for a revolt on the part of the
Wildcat. "I quits. I craves to handle dem bones pussonal. Does you own
'em all de time I quits."
The rabbi handed a pair of dice to the Wildcat. "Roll 'em does you
crave to," he said. The concession was made only after he had switched
the dice. The Wildcat got hold of twin dice which were loaded to come
out dooce, trey, or twelve on the first throw. He warmed the dice to a
functioning temperature in the palm of his right hand. In his left he
held the remainder of his roll. He laid the money on the centre of the
table. "Shoots it all. Two hund'ed dollars. Fade me, boy."
The rabbi counted out two hundred dollars, but before the Wildcat threw
the dice the Mud Turtle beside him spoke up. "I shoots fo' hund'ed on
the Wildcat's luck. Shoot's fo' hund'ed. Fade me, boy."
The rabbi grunted and dug into his roll for another four hundred.
The Wildcat turned to the Mud Turtle. "Boy, us is bust does I lose!"
"I been bust befo', Wilecat. So is you. Roll 'em see kin you git double
or nuthin'."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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