All or Nothing

“Uh, no? Why would I do that?” Frankie continued to speak for the both of them, explaining herself to the young collector.

“I’m, uh… you see.” Amused, he adjusted his choice of eyewear. “I’m trying to win. Like, for real. Look how many tokens I’ve gotten already!” He held up his hefty bag, the bulging thing clinking about as he swung it like a pendulum. “Now- you’ve both got two tokens, right? Not much, but that’s fine. I’ll offer you three hundred bucks a piece. Thousand two-hundred, right now. Sound good?”

“Just who the hell do you think you are?” The blonde continued to stand her ground.

He chuckled.

“I’m… you see. I’m Rob. Robert. I’m a *bit* of a Kidney fan. And I plan on winning this game. I’m actually serious about it. So if you can help me out, I can pay you back.”

“Uh… no thanks.” Frankie groaned.

“We’re trying to win too!” Katie jumped.

He grabbed his chin, further amused.

“…Eheh. And you expect to do that how?”

“Winnin’ tokens, asshole.” Frankie continued to forgo any sense of etiquette. Katie no longer had time to correct her at this point.

“Okay. And just… how do you expect to get there when you’re two days late?”

“Two days late? What are you talking about? This game doesn’t end ‘till the twenty-fourth.”

“Well…” he chucked again, very much to himself. “You see. Kidneyland started offering starting tokens to guests on the sixteenth, the day after the announcement. Since then, those participating have had two full days to compete. In that time, I’ve won all these.” Once again, he lifted his bag of tokens. “Won and bought, I suppose.”

“Wait… isn’t… buying other people’s tokens cheating?” Katie asked.

“Er, no.” Rob stated confidently. “That’s uh, just a part of the game as anything else. Kidney is, if nothing else, a capitalist. And having money is a game in and of itself. I’ve confronted multiple employees on this- they all say it’s fine. So you’re not gonna get in trouble, and I’m not gonna get in trouble. Capiche?”

“You don’t…” Frankie stirred. “No, you don’t get it. We’re competing too. We’re going to win. Even if we are two days late.”

“Why, though? You two don’t look like Kidney fans. What’s the honor of being winner gonna do for you, anyway?”

“We need the money.” Katie confided.

Bemused, a little intrigued, the young man giggled.

“What? Really? That’s weird. I never thought someone would go through all this work just for that.”

“Not everyone’s like you.” Frankie irked.

Rob’s smile shrieked, but only a little. He wasn’t too hurt by the insult of some poor girl.

“Look. If you’re this late and this bad at all the things that go on outside the park… so bad that you need the money in the first place… just how do you plan on catching up to guys like me, who already have over a hundred of these juicy little silver babies?”

“By taking them from you.” Frankie gleamed, mostly just wanting to show this guy who’s boss.

“Uh, Frankie?” Her big sis finally stepped in. “What are you doing?”

“I bet all four of our chips.”

The fanboy’s full smile returned.

“Okay then. I’ll take you on.” He prodded. “Do you really wanna play? I’ll give you a full sixth of what I’ve got… if I can pick the game.”

“Fine by me. Just so long as it isn’t ghost-hunting.”

The prideful Robert set his collection on the ground seemingly just so he could cross his arms.

“We’ll be doing Kidney trivia. And if I can get more questions right than you, I take home your tiny sum. Sound about right?”

“Sounds fine.”

“Frankie!”

Katie couldn’t dissuade her. The girl just wanted to trounce this guy.

“Okay.” He laughed once more. “You’re just crazy, y’know. Totally crazy, that’s all.” He sat on the ground, crossing his legs.

“Why’s that? Think I’ll lose to a sorry sap like you?”

“Well sure. But, you see… it’s just… when you do, you won’t have any tokens left, right?”

Frankie wouldn’t respond to something that didn’t matter.

“And since you two already seem darn broke… how do you expect to get any tokens after you lose the ones you already have?”

She stared down at her target, ready to fight.

“So when you lose this bet…” he continued. “It’s game over. You won’t be able to compete anymore .”