As she and Zane neared the pair, Brina drew closer to Zane. He immediately knelt down to be on the smallest boy’s level. Startled, the youngster shrank away from him.
“Don’t be frightened,” he said in a calm voice and tone. “I only came over to talk to you because I heard you playing. Who’s winning?”
“I am,” the tallest boy said, looking at Zane. “He’s not a very good player.”
Zane eyed the cards the younger child held and then picked up some of the ones that lay on the pavement and looked at them.
“What do you think you’re doing, Mister?” the oldest boy asked, staring at Zane with a menacing expression. “We aren’t causing anyone trouble. Those are my cards you have in your hands, and I’ll thank you not to take them.”
Zane shrugged. “I’m not going to take them from you. I’m going to give your friend a lesson in card playing.” He looked up at Brina and repeated, “A lesson. So his next game will be a fair one. Don’t you agree every game should be fair?”
The youth rolled his small brown eyes from side to side and wiped his forearm under his nose before declaring, “Of course I do.”
Zane nodded and gave his attention back to the youngest. “What’s your name?”
“William,” he answered shyly.
“What’s his name?” Zane asked with a quirk of his head toward the taller boy.
“Claude.”
“We don’t need you in our game,” Claude piped up in a high-pitched tone. “We aren’t doing anything wrong. You have no cause to bother us.”
Zane ignored him and kept his attention on William. Big green eyes stared back at him. “Do you mind if I see your cards?”
“It’s all right,” Brina said, stepping closer to William. “You can trust him. He only wants to help you.”
Timidly, the little one handed the cards to Zane. “Do you see this smudge on the card right here?” He pointed to the top left corner.
William nodded.
“It’s the ten of hearts. So, if you saw this card in his hands”—he motioned with his head to the taller kid—“what would you think?”
“He’s holding the ten of hearts.”
“That’s right,” Zane said with a nod. “It would help you win if you knew what cards he was holding, right?”
“I didn’t know that smudge was on the card,” Claude defended. “I swear I didn’t.”
Zane continued to ignore him. “This card has a little dot of red right there.” He pointed. “And this one has the edge frayed. See them?”
The youngster nodded again.
“The next time someone asks you to play a game, check all the cards over carefully for markings, and ifthere are any, don’t play. It won’t be a fair game. Do you understand?”
“I had no idea the cards had markings,” Claude interjected dramatically. “Found them in the rubbish. Thanks for letting me know, Mister. That was right kind of you.”
William scrambled to his feet, one chubby hand made a fist and the other he held out, palm up, as he glared at his friend. “You cheated. Give me back my money.”
“I didn’t cheat,” Claude declared in an angry tone, putting both fists up in a threatening manner. “You want to fight?”
Brina was about to speak up when Zane calmly said, “There will be no fighting over this. Give him back the money you won off him.” He rose to tower over the older boy. “Go on, do it. All of it.”
Claude scowled at Zane.
“We can do this your way or my way. Makes no difference to me.”
The youngster slowly relaxed his hands and lowered his arms. He shook his shoulders a time or two, shoved his hand into his pocket, produced two pence, and returned it. William’s round cheeks filled out more with his wide smile before he turned and ran away.
