This is something I started a while ago and never did anything with so, let's have a little fun and write what you think should come next.
The man sitting next to me smelled horrendous, talked way too much, and was big as a house. But he played cards horribly and I was up two hundred fifty dollars already, so a little stink and rubbing of elbow to love handle could be overlooked.
“I hope you’re happy fella,” the fat man says. “You’re taking all I have.”
“I’m taking? It’s more like you are giving me everything you have. Besides, no one is forcing you to play. I would have given up ten hands ago,” I gather my money and slip it into my pocket. “I tell you what, when we land I’ll buy you a drink. Nothing soothes the loss of money like a warm gullet. So what’dya say boss?”
“A drink won’t buy me a house.”
“And neither will I,” I pull a cigar out of my shirt pocket and light it. “Tell you what I will do. I just so happen to be great friends with The Commander, I’ll chat him up, get you a bang up job, and not one of those excavating jobs, we lose about two thirds the men we send out there-”
“The cold?”
“-to worms.”
“I thought the Worm Annihilation Front had that under control?”
“Oh, yeah, let’s be a little naïve and believe that twenty college dropouts are going to eradicate a worm problem as big as ours in a year. Not going to happen.”
The fat man stands with much difficulty. “Well, you do what you can. If a job comes your way I’d be much grateful, though, promises just don’t hold much weight these days.”
