Chap59: Pool Sharks & Magic [suspense/mystery]

"Saddle up for a heart-stopping ride into the dark corners of the illegal gambling world with Pearl, our resident pool hustler whose knack for the game lands her in a heap of trouble. When a high-stakes loss leaves her ducking and diving from vindictive pool sharks, salvation comes from a shadowy benefactor with enigmatic motives. This episode stitches together a narrative rife with desperate gambits, supernatural patrons, and the gritty truth that every choice has its price. Exposing the underbelly of a world where debts are settled in more than just currency, we invite you to experience a story where the supernatural mingles with the spin of the cue ball.
As Pearl dodges danger at every turn, she stumbles upon Timothy Buble who's tangled up with a dark figure in a soul-swapping bind that pulls Pearl into a chilling game of predator and prey. We'll unwrap the layers of this otherworldly standoff, exploring what it means to dance with the devil and walk away defiant. Witness the intense collision of courage and corruption in an episode that promises to leave you questioning the very nature of fate and free will. With stakes this high, every player is all in. Join us to see if Pearl can break free or if she's destined to be another pawn in this treacherous game."

Chapters

• 0:00 Escape From Pool Shark Pursuit
• 17:05 High Stakes Pool Game at R-Card Place
• 29:18 Deal With the Devil

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

This episode is brought to you by Nerdcore, a store in the Auburn Mall located in Auburn Maine, the place for all your nerdy needs. You can find Clarence and I's books there, as well as a plethora of other local writers, artists, 3D printed, d in details, taxidermy, you name it. They even have board games and tarot card readings, in addition to regularly hosting local creators. And as if that weren't enough, I like to dig through their used vinyl collection, which are organized into multiple genres I usually go for classical or jazz and are all reasonably priced and tested beforehand. So yeah, check out the Nerdcore store today at the Auburn Maine Mall. And now for our feature presentation.

Speaker 2: 1:09

In the corner of a dusty pool hall, a jukebox bumps, a woman leans down to take the shot, the shot of a lifetime, the shot that will solve all of her problems financially. She's bending over the pool table drawing back the cue smash, the ball misses, she's out. She's out $8,000, $8,000 further into the hole because she lost the game. And she looks to her right and sees the two sharks the two sharks that were betting on her and chills run up and down her spine. Pool sharks, yes, not land sharks.

Speaker 2: 1:56

Oh shit. She says oh shit shit shit.

Speaker 2: 2:00

Normally Pearl would be on a great, fantastic run. She's an excellent pool player, but the nerves have gotten to her because they've been hounding her about the additional money, the additional money that she owes them. She sets the cue down on the table, looks left, looks right and runs. She kicks open the door and runs out into the street. A car pulls to a stop, honks at her and screams, and she looks over her shoulder and sees the two men are after her. She runs down the street avoiding, barely avoiding, traffic. As she goes off into the cold night and as she's running, the two pool sharks, the two mob sharks, are yelling at her to come back. Get back here, you little bitch, get back here. You owe us money. She runs and she runs. And as she's running, she's scrambling through her pockets to get her cell phone to try to call for help Maybe maybe her dad, maybe her brother, maybe anybody. And as she's fumbling nervously, trying to fiddle through her contacts, she drops it and it bounces and it goes into a storm drain.

Speaker 1: 3:25

And as it falls into the storm drain, she feels a drop of water on her face. She looks up into the sky, which has become darker, and remembers that the weather had forecast rain and even a little bit of wind near hurricane level wind and very quickly it begins to rain harder and now it's just pouring so that you could barely see across the street. So she thinks to herself. She hopes that this might help her get away from the land, from the pool sharks, because if it were land sharks, the water would actually be a good thing for them.

Speaker 1: 4:13

She spots an alleyway, a couple blocks down and so she starts to run and she looks behind her and she doesn't think that she sees these men anymore. But she can't be sure. She puts her hood on she has a hoodie and she puts her hood on and she kind of crouches and tries to remain inconspicuous and she's looking at the ground trying to think about how she's going to get out of this situation, when she accidentally runs into a man in a trench coat. When she steps back, she sees that the man has dark eyes and is looking almost into her soul, like he had been expecting her. I'm sorry, do I know you? No, but I know you.

Speaker 2: 5:10

A little afraid and a little concerned. She steps back, giving him the eye and she's like how, how do you know me? And then he says I've been a big fan of your career for a long time. And she smiles at this. She doesn't get a lot of recognition. She doesn't get a lot of recognition in the, in the regular world. She doesn't get spotted very often because she's not really a celebrity. She's a professional pool player or was in a life now nearly forgotten.

Speaker 1: 5:48

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 5:50

Oh sure, I was thinking. And the man looks to the end of the alley where the two pursuers step in the site and he stands in front of her. He stands in front of Pearl and he gives them a most horrendous look. And as the two goons start to approach, he reaches into the trench coat and pulls out a pair of nunchucks and as they're closing in, he starts to swing them just like a Bruce Lee movie, and he smacks one of them in the side of the head and he falls, and he smacks the other one in the kneecap and you hear a very nasty crunch and he screams and then he kicks both of them to the ground and they're not defeated but done for the moment. And he says come with me, I have a place we can go. And the two of them run and as they're running, one of the goons grabs her ankle and she turns and he's trying to cut her with a butterfly knife and he says you little bitch. And he swipes at her ankle but just in time she kicks the blade out of his hand and it clatters across the ground and then they're free, they run and they run for about 10 minutes getting winded on and off. They're not in as great shape as they used to be.

Speaker 2: 7:35

They approach another pool hall and they go in and this pool hall has a basement and they go into the basement and they're sitting down there. And little did she know about this pool hall in this basement is that they do underground gambling there. They do poker games specifically and, panting and out of breath, she's standing there looking at these tables of card games going on and she looks at all the money in the room and she's like Jesus Christ, this is just the workplace. I need to be Too bad. I can't play cards. I'm terrible at cards.

Speaker 1: 8:12

The man has taken off his trench coat now and he looks like he's getting relaxed. He's sitting on. All the seating is tattered, old, worn leather, but it looks comfy. He's sitting down and a waitress comes by with a glass of what looks like whiskey on the rocks. Hey, did he give his name? Hey, john. How's it going? Cindy, he says.

Speaker 1: 8:43

Pearl notices that he's also taken a carton of cigarettes out of his pocket Lanky cigarettes, jesus, she hasn't seen those in ages. And then she realizes that he's about to light a cigarette in this club, whatever the fuck it is, which she also hasn't seen in ages. She's not averse to this happening because she actually weirdly enjoys the smell of second hand smoke. It for her brings back memories of her mother who took care of her and her sister when she was younger, before she passed, and it was just one of those memories that she liked to hold on to. So she kind of almost was eager for the scent of the cigarette. So everything would have been normal, except that when he pulls the cigarette out of the carton, offers it to her and she refuses because she doesn't smoke she only smokes a little bit of weed and she doesn't inhale like Bill Clinton he puts it up to his mouth and he takes one of his other hands and he does this little snapping. And when he does this, the cigarette lights up. She thinks, oh, a magician, he's got nuns chucks and he's a magician. He takes a long drag from his cigarette and then he blows out smoke rings. And the smoke rings have like a cascading effect. They float across the room and it's smaller within smaller smoke rings, like one of those little Russian dolls or nesting eggs, whatever they're called. And then he looks at her with those eyes and she thinks she sees like a red, like a flare of fire or something, and he's like he's not grinning, but he's grinning with his eyes. You want to know how I did that. I mean, if you're going to try to tell me about all this magic shit, I'm not really into that. Sorry, I dated a magician in college and let's just say I don't want to get back into that.

Speaker 1: 10:48

He laughs, takes another drag. He's clearly trying to draw attention to himself and keep control of the pacing of the conversation. She looks around the room and sees that people have exited. Even the waitress has walked out and closed the door behind her and the lighting somehow is getting dimmer and she looks back at the man and it's as if he is the only. Well, he is the only other person in the room. His eyes are attracting her to him, like it's very hard to look away. It's very intense. Another magician's thing or whatever. I've noticed that you've had a lot of. You've been going on a failing streak lately with your pool games. I want to help you. How can you help me? I don't need any lessons. Anything you're going to teach me I could probably find on YouTube and have probably already seen it. He takes another long, this one seemingly longer drag from the cigarette, blows out the smoke rings and then he goes. He looks at her quickly. He says no, I'm serious, but I need something in exchange.

Speaker 2: 12:11

It's a I'm sorry routine you got going on here. I don't much care for it, cowboy, gotta tell ya it's kinda some bullshit. I don't like this eerie room that you've gotten me in. You know, I think I'd rather be with the thugs. And he says I can help you. I'm not gonna ask for your soul. I get that a lot. That's kinda played out. I'm not the devil, after all, I'm simply a magician. She rolls her eyes. Oh boy, here we go. The name is Timothy Boublay, uh-huh.

Speaker 1: 12:47

I really wasn't going that direction.

Speaker 2: 12:48

but and what is it that you want from me, mr Boublay? Well, I want to cut the action, of course. I seem to think that you have a long career ahead of you and I don't think you're washed up at all. I happen to think that good things are coming Alright. So what are you gonna be my manager? What is it that you want? He leans back, takes another drag off of his cigarette and he says well, any managerial fee would be about 15%.

Speaker 2: 13:23

But, considering that I'm going to help you in ways that no other manager could. I want 30. 30%, 30% of a game that what we play upstairs yeah, that we play upstairs Tonight, tonight, and you think this is gonna solve all of my problems.

Speaker 2: 13:42

Well maybe not all of them, but certainly some. She looks at him with intensity and finds it very difficult to look away. And she says one game. And he says one game. Okay, what are the stakes? He said well, there are a lot of people up there with a vested interest in you succeeding, uh-huh. And there's a lot of money on the floor, figuratively, uh-huh. So 30%, it's more than enough. Wait, wait, wait, wait. You mean to tell me that there are people up there that are just going to gamble on this game? Yeah, but the place was not that full when we were. You know, don't worry about that part, honey, let's not get the honey thing going. Alright, you fucking weirdo, you and your nunchucks. Okay, one game, one game. And then the mobsters are gonna go away. Yeah, you'll be able to pay them off. That's a lot of money. She says yeah. Then he flicks his cigarette off into the distance and, rather than it landing on the floor, it vanishes. Okay, alright.

Speaker 2: 15:02

So they start walking back up the stairs and, sure enough, there are a lot of people up there, way more than when they first walked through. She's looking around at all these faces, doesn't recognize any of them, and she's been in the pool game for a long time and she knows a lot of the big gamblers. She's looking around and, sure enough, they're making bets, they're putting money on her. She's smiling, grinning ear to ear because she feels like a celebrity. Oh shit, there's enough money in this room to pay off my debt and pay off all kinds of other problems. And as she's walking toward the table, they've all surrounded one table. She looks across and sees Lex Bircham. Lex is the best pool player in the world and she gasps because she's never actually met him before. And before she gets close enough to talk to Lex, timmy Boublay stops her whispers in her ear here, this is your cue. And he hands her a pool cue.

Speaker 1: 16:15

And now time for a commercial break. Did you know that by day I'm a plumber? That's right, and we at the Writers Block are proud to announce that one of our sponsors is Mark Nigro Services. Based out of Westbrook, maine, and servicing most of Southern Maine, mark Nigro Services is available for all your plumbing, heating, gas and even sprinkler needs. It could just be my employee bias, but I can confirm that the work done by these guys is clean, efficient and affordable, and all done within a reasonable time period. You won't ever have a leak or go cold with Mark Nigro Services, and if you're already experiencing one or both of those two things, you won't have to worry much longer. Reach out to Mark Nigro Services at mnigroservicescom that's the letter M-N-I-G-R-O services at gmailcom. Links are also available in the show notes.

Speaker 1: 17:05

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Speaker 1: 17:48

And now back to our story. She oh man, I haven't played pool in forever, she doesn't say, because she was literally just playing earlier. She spins the Q on the tip of her, r-chocs it. She chocks the Q and then she puts it on the side of the table and she eyes her shot. She walks around the table making eye contact with Lex, who doesn't appear to care about her either way.

Speaker 1: 18:22

To him this is just another game. He's never heard of her, or maybe he has. She can't tell. He's showing no interest. He looks like he's ready to be on to the next game. She walks past him and then back, circles back around to where she was in the first place, eyes the this solid red six that she wants to hit. She thinks that this could Create a chain reaction. They could hit the other balls in such a way that they go into the holes. So she leans over the table and she thinks wait, I shouldn't rush into this, there's got to be more to this game than meets the eye. She looks back to boot play, who has found himself another Tattered leather seat and his blowing smoke rings again flirting with some girl. God, these me, is these magicians. He's doing the the flicky light cigarette trick thing again too, and she thinks why?

Speaker 2: 19:29

She thinks what a disaster, how did I get myself into this shit? She takes her shot, does a combination, lands one in each corner, pocket, nice, off to a great start. She does another shot, taking one into the side nice, another great shot. She hopes, if you can keep this Lead, that she might be running the table out and might win. But sure enough, she shoots, she scratches, fuck, fuck, fuck. And she's looking around the room and everybody is smiling and everybody is relatively supportive Okay, all right, we're gonna be okay.

Speaker 2: 20:10

And then Lex fires a ball and it sounds like a fucking cannon, just running into the corner. Pow, oh, and her heart hurts just looking at it. Oh, and he fires another one and it sounds like just the same, just like a gun bang, lands it in the corner and she's gripping the bridge of her nose and she's terrified oh no, oh no, oh no. And then, from across the room, boob lay Makes a motion with his hand as if he's turning the cue and and she's looks at him, looks at Lex, who did not notice. He's bent over the table for his next shot and she takes the cue and she turns it. Just a hair and it makes a click and she's like, oh boy, I wonder what this is. And then when he misses the ball, it just sort of bounces a little wide, doesn't land the shot whatever, and then she bends down and she aims up, aims at the cue, and then it felt as if Another set of hands took the cue and shot for her and it goes in, and then she turns around and sinks another and Then the game is over, just like that, and she's won and there is money stacking up on the pool table.

Speaker 2: 21:32

Lex is fuming, he's trying, he's begging her for another game. He's saying you know, I'll double it. No, I'll triple it, I'll triple the bets. And she says not a chance, cowboy. And Pearl is filthy rich in a matter of no time. And she's Turns around to Timothy, boob lay, and she thanks him Thank you, thank you so much, timothy. And he takes the pool cue and he starts taking it apart and putting it in his bag. He says now we're gonna do another game, but first we have to pay off your debt, my debt, fuck them. Look at all this money.

Speaker 1: 22:14

Look at all this.

Speaker 2: 22:15

No, no. Timothy says you need to pay off your debt. It's important, danny nighting toes can eat my ass. And he says I will not continue to help you if you don't pay it. Okay, okay, I'll give him 10%. No, no, pay it off in full. She grounds okay, when's the next game? Tomorrow? Okay, tomorrow.

Speaker 2: 22:39

And as she's going home, she's thinking what a wild night this has been. This is absolutely insane. Why didn't I get to keep that pool cue? That was fucking awesome and that's maybe magic is cool. Maybe magic is cool.

Speaker 2: 22:57

And as she's approaching her apartment, she hears Some noise and she realizes that her door is not fully shut. She hears them banging around and she says, oh no. Her heart sinks. She knows that they're in there. They're in there looking for her. They're in there looking to take some of the money. They're in there. So she squeaks it open and she sees the two goons standing in her kitchen and the whole apartment is destroyed, just wrecked. All right, fellas, all right, fucking a. If I give you some of the money now, will you leave me alone? You think you're gonna give us some of the money? That's great. We heard about your game. Oh no, and we know what the stakes were too, he says, and one of them had, unbeknownst to her, slipped past and closed the door. You're gonna give us all of it, all of it, all of it, because Danny Ninetose wants his money and he wants interest. She drops the bag of money on the floor.

Speaker 2: 24:10

Okay alright, okay, she unzips it and she starts handing out a little bit of the money, and then she tries to pull a fast one on him, she tries to zip it back, closed, with only some of it missing. I don't think so, sweetheart. He says, grabbing her hand and slamming it down onto the counter, onto the kitchen counter. Then he grabs a mallet from the drawer, a meat tenderizer, and he starts smashing her fingers aggressively, just bang, bang, bang, breaking the bones in her hand. She's screaming and she's in misery, she's cursing and she's horrendously destroyed hand, and they take the whole bag and they leave.

Speaker 1: 25:07

Okay, that reminds me of let's Get Ready to Rumble. I think that's the movie where he's a professional bowler and then he gets his hand.

Speaker 2: 25:17

Never seen it.

Speaker 1: 25:19

I don't know if I've seen the whole movie either, but so she's running. But she doesn't have to run far, because she can hear some sort of rustling behind her. She can hear grunts. She turns around and sees into her apartment someone in a trench coat just moving around the room like a ninja, flicking his nunchucks. That's Timmy Boublé. Again, he's whacking these guys in the face, one, two times, three times for good measure, and the men both fall down like someone would fall down. They fall down on the ground. One of them actually falls into her glass coffee table, shattering it, of course, because he's a big man. He looks, he swings his nunchucks in and puts them nicely into his trench coat and he looks out at her.

Speaker 1: 26:16

This is not how this was supposed to go. I'm taking all the money, she said. She's holding her hand close, but she's also got the bag. I don't care what anyone says. No, you give them exactly what you owed them and then take the rest. These men won't be bothering you anymore. Why? There's just some things that are better left unsaid.

Speaker 1: 26:38

She didn't trust him again. There is something about the way he said that, something about this whole situation. Why wouldn't she be able to take all the money. Why did they need to get that precise amount? Why did he care? She reluctantly gave him some of the money that was owed and he put it neatly next to each man they feed it up. There you go, don't fuck with her.

Speaker 1: 27:08

He caught up with her. She was already taking the stairs to the apartment building down to the street and he caught up with her and said hey, you did good tonight, fulfilling your end of the bargain. I've got to go see somebody, but I hope to see you at the next pool game Again. She's curious. What is he talking about? Who does he need to see? She pretends to walk in one direction and then turns around, sees that he's gone in the other direction and she follows him. By the way, it's raining again, just because, but it's washing the blood off of her hand and dripping onto the street. She sees a cruiser pass by in hopes that it's raining hard enough again that he can't see or isn't noticing her. He doesn't appear to notice her. It also looks weird that she's creeping up behind this man in the trench coat. The man in the trench coat takes a right down an alley. He follows her, she follows him in. Nope she? How does she do that?

Speaker 2: 28:23

It goes around the back and looks in the window.

Speaker 1: 28:26

Yes, and finds that the window is a jar. So she sneaks in through the window and she's walking through these hallways and she doesn't know where she is at this point when she hears mumbling coming from another room or or it's hard to hear, it's muffled. So she walks up to a door that's been left a jar and she sees a jar On a table. There's something glowing in a jar on a table and there's A large Hand Coming from the darkness laying next to the jar on the desk and there's definitely the outline of some figure In the shadows. And she can't tell if it's a trick of the light, but almost looks like he has Some sort of like Protrusion coming out of his head. And then she hears Timothy Buble's voice. I fulfilled every end of my. I fulfilled my end of the bargain that belongs to me. I want it back.

Speaker 1: 29:28

No, the voice comes from the shadow. E-man, you did not fulfill your end of the bargain. I said no tricks, timothy Buble. That was the only way for her to win the game. What tricks? I don't know anything about no tricks. He says Ha ha ha. You tried to trick me, timothy Buble, and I knew you would, and that's why I made this deal with you. You're not getting your soul back Anytime soon. Give it back. She can see that Timothy Buble is like lurched for the jar on the desk. The man, without even moving his arm, laughs again and the jar just slides back, recedes into the shadows. And then his arm recedes into the shadows. No, you, son of a bitch. She's now so curious that she's leaned against the door and not realized that she's got all her weight against it and she falls into the room and Timothy Buble turns around, startled Pearl.

Speaker 2: 30:36

The voice says from the darkness I've been meaning to talk to you and he leans forward. So just a flicker of light covers his face and he is the ugliest man that has ever lived. Well, well, well, we have a real pool prodigy here. I've been meaning to talk to you, aren't you something? He's smiling ear to ear with his burnt, weird-looking face. I've been following your career. You're something else. I've had about enough of two-bit hacks like Timothy Buble. Get out of my sight Timothy Buble. I've had a lot of like shutters. He's furious, he's fighting, angry, but he turns and he starts walking out. You know, I've made deals with everybody, everybody you could think of Rock stars, rappers, musicians, clowns, clowns, movie stars, everybody. Politicians, Lots and lots of politicians. I'm greedy bastards. I'll give anything to win Anything, but I've never had a pool player before. She feels the hair raising on the back of her neck, she feels chills, just goose flesh breaking out on every part of her body and she says "That you Never Will". Thank you.