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stitches

Without a word,
a man walks up to you,
cuts his tongue out and holds up a sign
asking for the last word you heard.

Taken aback, you think
"board games at a time like this...
no no no. "
Remembering what to do;
you take a deck of cards from your back pocket
and deal a quick hand of Black Jack.
Still thinking not talking
"This should help us get down to it,
that is, if you were meant to know. "

The man with a mouth full of blood
looks at his cards, turns over two fives
and taps each one once.
Having played this game before,
you realize he was not meant to know,
put the cards back in the box, carefully,
pick the tongue up off the ground, sew it back on,
hand over the cards and walk away.

Now, ten years later, you still see him.
The man they've since called stitches,
running Four-card Monte,
on that very corner.
You can only assume he's waiting for the answer.

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