“That’s actually generous of him.” I said to Bella as I leaned down to whisper into her ear. “Would you like to join me for a martini?”
I waited almost a minute for her to answer before looking away from her uncle and down at her face. Instead of the calm serenity that had been gracing her face earlier I saw confusion. It was not a flattering look for her. I had never seen her like this before and the change startled me, so I quickly asked, “Bella, what’s wrong?” As she sat there, motionless, I grasped her shoulder and gently rocked her back and forth until she broke out of whatever trance she had fallen into. She looked up at me quizzically so I simply repeated my question with a little more urgency than before.
As she looked up into my eyes I saw that she noted my apparent concern, good, at least she was being responsive now. I knew that something was off so I sat and waited for her to explain what was wrong. By this time the other players at our table had gotten up so it was just the two of us sitting there in silence. It took her a few more moments to gather herself, but she eventually answered the question.
“As far as I know my uncle has never had a break during one of his ‘oh so precious tournaments.’” Once she finally started speaking her words came out quickly. She fixed her eyes on mine and nearly shouted her next word. “Never!”
I was uncertain how to respond to this but I tried to offer a reason as to why he might have deviated from such a longstanding tradition. “Maybe this year’s tournament is just running longer.” But even to my ears the excuse sounded feeble.
Her eyes were beginning to take on a hue of fear which I didn’t understand. Well she had common sense, you always had to be cautious with the unknown, and perhaps she was just being cautious. I could tell that for Bella, not knowing what was going on was extremely frustrating. I had only known her for a few hours but I could tell that she had a controlling side to her, a similarity that she definitely shared with her uncle. She waved a dismissive hand at my suggestion as her words poured forth. “No, Marcus you don’t understand. After the tournament last year I actually asked him about that. Don’t get me wrong I can handle a long time at the table, but even I was exhausted.” She turned around and tightly gripped my arms. “He told me that he never took breaks because it’s better for business. He wouldn’t just change what he considered a good business decision, not without a very compelling reason.”
Keeping my eyes on hers, I tried to keep my face as calm as possible. “Slow down a second, what exactly do you think is going on if this is so unordinary?”
Taking her cue from me, she stopped a moment to settle her rising emotions. When she had herself under control she replied in a still shaky voice, “I’m not sure Marcus.” She took another breath to steady herself and continued: “And to be honest that’s what scares me the most.”
“Bella, isn’t it possible that you’re overreacting just a little?” I asked as I placed my thumb and index finger just a hairsbreadth apart. “Let’s focus for a moment on the positive side of things. For insistence I’m fairly certain your uncle no longer has any of his men intermingled with the last ten players, so his payout is already as small as it can be.”
Then I remembered the betting that was going on above our heads and that made me think of something else. “Well minus the gambling going on above us. But, best of all is the re-opening of the bar even, if it was mostly an afterthought. And to tell you the truth since he forces everyone to stay here he should have left it open for the whole time.”
“That may be a valid explanation for his opening the bar,” Bella shrugged as she elaborated on her thoughts. “But the bar is a nice shiny toy to distract from the real surprise, which is the break. Why did he call for a break? That’s what scares…”
I was afraid she was going to allow herself to get worked up, but I needed her to stay calm. “I’m not saying I fully believe what I said, Bella. After all I know who your uncle is and more importantly I know his reputation.” I placed a bit of emphasis on the last words. “But I also know there is no use worrying about something we have no control over. That’s about as useful as trying to argue with a hungry grizzly bear. And all that’ll do is keep us from playing our best game, which is something we can’t afford right now. I understand what your fears are, but there is nothing we can do about it right now.”
I saw her force down the panic that had started to rise, but she again managed to pull herself under control. Looking past me she stared right at her uncle as she spoke to me. “You’re right, Marcus. This is not the time to let my uncle’s actions dictate what I do.”
I scratched my temple as I thought about what she was saying. I could tell she was concerned about all of the oddities that she had observed so far during this tournament. Though it would have been more accurate to say the differences frightened her. And things like that were always useful to know, you just needed to know when you had to use the knowledge. “Believe me Bella, information is always useful.”
She opened her mouth to say something but before she could utter a sound I gently placed a finger upon her lips and quickly completed my thought, “Yes information is useful. But information overload is potentially fatal. I’m not going to let it rule my thoughts during this break or at the final table.” I kept my attention focused upon her beautiful grey eyes, and I just held them with my own for a few moments before adding, “Divergence from the norm is always useful to know about. You just have to figure out why the differences are there.”
With a shy smile she looked up into my eyes, “You really are an interesting mystery, Marcus.”