mona came back the next night. she told yancey her story.
mona was born in the army, during the last great war. this meant that she was a little older than yancey had thought.
her father was a recruiting sergeant. he traveled all over the back roads of the empire, cajoling yokels into joining up to save civilization.
her mother was a spy for the rebels. she had pulled the wool over the eyes of the innocent recruiting sergeant.
when her deception was discovered, by the legendary iuderground operative of the empire known as perry khan, she was shot by a firing squad, and the recruiting sergeant was reduced to the rank of private and banished to a supply depot near the north pole.
he took the chlld, mona, with him.
mona grew up in the supply depot, buffeted by icy winds.
depending on the shifts in the war, the depot was either very busy, or almost lifeless.
mona’s father had one assistant, a curious little fellow known as vladmir.
vladimir resembled a little dog, and had the face of a lizard.
among vladimir’s meager possessions was an old deck of cards.
he taught the chlld mona to play many games, including some he had invented himself.
mona learned when to hold them, and when to fold them.
when the war ended, mona’s father and vladmir were both demobolised. mona never saw vladimir again.
mona and her father found themselves on the streets of memphis.
one day mona’s father left her in a cafeteria while he went to see about a job in a sandwich packing plant.
he never returned.
mona stole a deck of cards from a general store that covered a whole city block of memphis, and began doing card tricks, and playing three card monte on the sidewalk with chumps and yokels and disbanded soldiers.
eventually she was arrested and spent nine years in a reformatory.
when she met yancey, she had been getting along by doing a little bit of this, a little bit of that, and telling sad stories.
but she wanted to settle down.
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