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The tall kid shook his head. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Stanley lost the Puck game and he was supposed to let me pick a card from his deck to keep.”
A sniffle came from Stanley. “You were gonna take my best card, and my mom won’t let me buy any more.”
Ben knelt in front of the young lad and grasped his arms. “Listen to me, Stanley.” The boy lifted his head just enough to meet Ben’s gaze. “Losing helps you to learn.”
Stanley wrinkled his nose. “Learn what?”
Ben nodded down at the mess of cards at his knees. “Like how to play a better game of cards. That way you won’t lose.”
Stanley wiped the back of his sleeve across his nostrils. “I guess, but how am I supposed to learn to win if I don’t have enough deck to play?”
Ben smiled at him as he clapped his shoulders. “We’ll take care of that, but I think you owe someone a look at your deck.”
A spark of hope slipped into Stanley’s eyes, and he nodded before he stooped and began plucking the cards from the ground. With Ben’s help the deck was picked up, and Stanley stood and turned to the tall boy. He spread out the cards to show off the pictures. “Okay, Win, pick your card.”
Win stepped up to the smaller boy and looked over the deck. He furrowed his brow before he plucked a goose from the crowd. “I’ll take this one.”
Stanley shook his head. “But you were going to take the lion.”
Win tucked the goose into his own deck and shrugged. “I don’t have the goose, so I’ll take it.”
Tears welled up in Stanley’s eyes again, but there was a shaky smile on his lips, too. “Thanks, Win. You’re a pal.”
Win grinned and puffed out his chest a little. “Of course. I’m everybody’s pal.”
A loud guffaw came from one of their friends. “How about you take us out to an ice,pal?” That got a laugh out of the others.
Win turned his head around and glared at them. “How about we go for a swim and I dunk your head in the river?”
“Yeah, let’s go for a swim!” one of the others shouted.
“Swim! Swim!” another chanted.
And with that, the rambunctious crowd stampeded toward the river bank. Stanley’s face lit up and he made to follow them, but Ben clapped a hand on his shoulder. “Wait a moment.”
Stanley whipped his head around and his face blanched. “Y-yes, sir?”
A crooked smile slipped onto Ben’s lips as he reached into his vest and drew out his coin purse. “I promised you a reward for taking losing well, didn’t it?”
Stanley’s eyes lit up as he watched Ben remove a pair of silver coins and hold them out to him. “For me?”
Ben nodded. “Yes, but try not to spend them in one day.”
Stanley snatched them from Ben’s fingers and grinned. “No, sir! I’m going to treat my mom to something nice! She’s wanted this shawl for ever so long.”
Ben’s eyes twinkled as he twisted his fingers and a gold coin appeared out of nowhere. “That’s what I thought you’d say, so here’s another one.”
He dropped it into Stanley’s palm and a shocked look spread across the lad’s face. “T-this, sir? I-I can’t take this! My mom wouldn’t want me to!”
“Tell your mother you earned it today for being a good son,” Ben insisted as he spun the boy around so he faced the river. “Now hurry along before you miss all the dunking.”
“T-thank you, sir!” Stanley stuttered before he darted off with his prize tightly clenched in his fist.
I sidled up beside Ben and smiled up at him. “That was a nice thing to do for him.”
Ben shrugged. “It’s a good habit to reward a good loser.” He shook himself and smiled down at me. “Now where were we?”
CHAPTERELEVEN
