Giovedì, 11 Marzo, 2004 | Posted by Uncle Jozef at 06:58

As a little girl, Silvia's favourite relative was her Uncle Josef. Uncle Josef wasn't really a blood relative, but he loved Silvia like he was.

He had long card nights where friends would venture into the home laden with food and drink and leave lighter of wallet. These were rowdy nights of loud music and voices booming across cavernous rooms and shadows dancing on walls. Sometimes blood flowed along with wine.

Silvia often played under the table. Josef would scratch her rich auburn hair and claim it brought him good luck. However, that came from somewhere else.

Under the table just where Josef sat was a card strapped to the side of the old table. On its white base blazed a bright, red heart. It was this ace that was often brought out to clinch a hand.

Many years later, Silvia was wondering through an old gramaphone shop. There was one old gramaphone that she particularly took a shine to. As she neared it, she noticed the table it happened to be sitting on.

It seemed to be the same table she had sat under all those years ago while her uncle Josef played cards. There were those distinctive rounded legs that looked as if they had once belonged to the Michelin Man. She had often thought of this table fondly.

She dropped slowly to the floor. The assistant at the counter noticed her and move away from the register to get a closer look. Silvia seemed to have disappeared. He couldn't see her. He moved quickly to the table. Was she placing an item in her bag? He had already been fined by the owner for allowing a rare recording to disappear. He couldn't even remember the name of the artist, nor did he care. He just wanted to make sure that he had enough money to take out Rosalita as he thought this time he may get lucky.

Where did that woman disappear to? He raised his feet and started to race a little. His tap shoes sounded like a rapid accompaniment to the Bolero which was playing loudly in the background.

He arrived at the table just as Silvia was rising from below. In her hand was a playing card. On its white base was a blazing, red heart. On Silvia's face was a glowing smile.

"I'l take it", she said.