thoughts on gambling from billy the E-Kid

Thoughts on gambling from Billy the E-Kid

fiction
edward w Pritchard

Author is trying to resurrect Billy the Kid, long dead. Whether the Kid was shot and killed in 1881 or died as Brushy Bill in 1950 is inconsequential; now Billy the E-Kid needs publicity and author here is working to revive the Kid's fame.


Billy the E-Kid

Vamos a ver, we shall see, that's my philosophy on life and gambling is a convenient metaphor for the whole shooting match of life itself.

When I start, before the cards are dealt or the wheel is spun it's all potential. A one in ten thousand occurrence can happen as likely now as latter, can happen to me at any time, no matter how down and out things are now for me. A deck of cards, a glass of whiskey and a willing woman for latter, that's all it is about.

Worked in a restaurant once. Hardest job I ever had. Even harder than farming or ranching in a way. In a restaurant you can't make the customers happy. If the food is good, it's not as good as their Mother's cooking, if it's better than their Mother's cooking the customers complain about the filth in the kitchen. You just can't make people happy.

My lucky number? #55093. That was my friend's Billy Wilson's Colt Frontier six shooter's serial number that my other good friend Sheriff Pat Garrett shot me with on July 14, 1881 at Fort Sumner. Quien Es  [ who is it] I said, it was fine to see it was Pat Garrett who shot me; it's always better if it comes from a friend.

Just before I died as I went down to the floor with a butcher knife in one hand and my revolver in the other, when I saw it was Billy Wilson's colt that Pat Garrett had kept for himself that was what killed me; I wished for one more chance to play that number, # 55093 on the roulette wheel over at the saloon across the street from the Lincoln County courthouse.

Would my number come up a winner? Vamos a ver, amigos, Vamos a ver my friend.
end