A dinner of aces, hearts, and spades

The next day they stopped at Muscadet’s train station, a small town on the east side of the country which had no attraction at all. Friedrich stepped down from the train and looked at the dusty station. He had not seen anything interesting, the itinerary board signalled the departures and arrivals, and there were small establishments of different kinds. Friedrich approached an old armoury, the shopkeeper had a frown since birth, he ignored Friedrich’s stare and just read the newspaper, he had a military-like haircut and a moustache worthy of a kaiser carrot-coloured like his hair.

“Gunpowder and conicals .479 calibre” Friedrich dropped a bag with golden coins on top of the small counter that separated them.

The shopkeeper didn’t move. He extended a hand, opened a drawer and with just his tact he found what he was looking for. He placed a paper bag which had a metallic sound on top of the counter. The man took the bag with coins and threw it under the counter.