L’Observateur : Who Wins the Purse?

Riding home on the Métro from a poker game, the #4 pulled into Réaumur-Sébastopol, and out of the corner of my eye I saw a well-dressed thirty-something French woman in high heels standing on the platform. In a flash, a man came running across the platform, snatched her purse, and went flying up the stairs. In the same instant, the train started pulling out of the station as she was frantically chasing after the guy, screaming, and waving her arms – high heels and all. As it happened, she was running the same direction that the train was going, and I was facing the opposite direction in the window seat on the platform side, so the scene was especially dramatic from my perspective, as she was running alongside my window for a few seconds in absolute hysterics. Then, as quickly as it happened, the train hit the tunnel and the scene went black. I looked across the aisle at a middle aged woman, and as our eyes met, she clutched the strap of her purse with a vise grip.

Moving to France was the only way I was ever going to have the desire to play Texas Hold ’Em. I’m stubborn like that. I won 11 euros.

4 comments:

  1. You won 11 Euros? You weren't playing Texas Hold 'Em. Back me up SB.

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  2. it should be said that any form of gambling, be it that of the high-stakes variety in the casinos of Las Vegas or for "harmless" recreation with friends, will ultimately prove to be a no-win situation. pockets get emptied; people get hurt.

    having said that, i'd have to back up puddles here. 11 euros is about 15 U.S.? was 11 Euros the buy-in, & you came in second or something? please keep in mind that you are reading the words of a player who has won exactly 0 of any currency in his card-playing career. until now, i didn't know any other outcome was actually possible.

    ok, i have to go eat tamales & drink atole now. it's posadas time, cabrones. go next door to your neighbor's & belt out a cancion de Navidad o dos. failing your knowledge of any, why not try "Didn't We Almost Have It All?," which the guy in charge of this cibercafe is playing as we speak.

    :sb

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  3. We did almost have it all, didn't we?
    Basta de peros, de mañas, de nuncas, de nadas, de ser impuntual con las historias sencillas y con los abrazos que siempre estarán Cuando me encuentran mis vergüenzas in-fraganti, cuando me encierro con mis miedos bajo llave…
    Me tengo cansado, me tengo cansado

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