The rule of three

A gold card

"We will play 36:1" The man announced as he resumed his seat at the table. Dean stood closely behind him.

"What is this? What do you take us for, bringing this filth to the table."

"This is an insult to us."

"My God, he stinks. Get him out of here." One of the men made gestures to his guards. 

The guards had begun walking angrily towards Dean when the old man gave them a dark look. 

The guards froze in their tracks.

"He is with me. If you don't like that you can leave." He said.

"You really think a gutter rat will help you win?" One of the rich men asked.

"Just be a good sport and accept your losses. We all have bad days too." Another advised.

"That's right." Two other men agreed. 

But the old man completely ignored them and the game began. He staked the exact amount he had lost so far, ten million.

Dean won the first game. 

Even though he had been confident he could win, he was still shocked. 

The old man just smiled as the room went silent. He motioned for Dean to play again. 

By their third win there was a riot. 

The wealthy men had become like any average man on the street. Any average man who could not handle losing. 

They accused Dean of cheating and threatened to deal with him.

"You filthy thing. You think you can steal from people like us." One said

"You, go call your manager. We will not let this cheating slide." Another shouted at a waiter nearby. 

"You will pay dearly for this." One man threatened. 

The old man was laughing now. He reached up to pat Dean's shoulder in reassurance. 

"Before any of that, pay up." The old man said to the others at the table. "Now."

Transfers were made, and the man took Dean aside as the arguments at the table were getting more heated. 

"I am an old man as you can see. And you have made my night. You have saved my pride." He said. "These men you see here will always look at me differently now. They will treat me with more respect for the few years I have left."

Dean did not know how to respond to that, so he said nothing. 

"Take the ten million as an appreciation for helping me save face." The man said, smiling. "You invested that money and got great returns this night. So it's all yours, you owe me nothing."

Dean felt his head spin, this could not be real. 

"Don't look like that. I will sign some documents to the effect if you want. The ten million is a gift and all you won this night is from your investment with that money." The man said. 

He dipped his hand into his pocket and withdrew a gold card. 

"All the money is in here. The password is 1944, my birth year. You can transfer all the money to any account of your choice." The man explained. 

It was all a lot for Dean to take in. 

And more still, he wondered if this man was not trying to play tricks on him. 

Somehow though he felt he could trust the man.

He accepted the card. The man stared at him, and then patted his shoulder again. 

"You remind me of my younger self." He said. 

Then before Dean could think of a reply, he added. "Go on now. I will handle things here. The casino owners may give you trouble though, so take care"

Dean hurriedly left. 

He walked with the card deep in his pocket. It was almost midnight now but he still found an ATM machine. 

One hundred and eight million dollars sat in the account. Dean felt like he was dreaming. He had never seen so much money in his entire life.

He was completely stunned and felt numb. He was very reluctant to leave the ATM. He had an irrational fear that the money would disappear. 

But he finally did.

He withdrew a little sum of money and took a taxi to the nearest port. The water was where Dean felt the most at peace. 

He paid for a cabin in one of the docked ships. Then he had a good shave and a wash. 

He could not eat too much because of his nerves. All his hunger from earlier was gone. 

After a restless night, he stood up early to prepare for a trip to the bank the next morning. 

An attendant doing his rounds almost bumped into him at the door.

"Did you enjoy your stay sir?" He asked.

"Yes. I did." Dean responded. 

"Hey, hurry up! We need your help at the back." A young boy called out to the attendant and disappeared round the corner.

"What was that?" Dean asked.

The attendant smiled and apologized. "We send some items from here to our shipping company. I often help out." He explained.

"Hmmm" Dean said as an idea formed in his head.

He hurried off to the bank. 

His money was still intact. 

He checked the transfer limit for the card and it was higher than the sum in his account. For that, he was grateful. 

If he had to go inside the banking halls, he was certain he would have attracted scrutiny and even embarrassment. 

He transferred the money into his personal account. 

He headed to his bank to make a sizable withdrawal. But when he got there he realized his account had been frozen. 

He was confused. Why will they do that?

He went up into the bank hall to speak with customer service.

The woman sitting behind a monitor gave him a scrutinizing look. She squeezed her nose in disgust. 

"How may we help you today?" She asked in a harsh tone.

"I want to check the status of my account." Dean said. 

"Name?"

"Dean Connor."

"Take a seat over there. I'll call you soon." She gestured to one of the waiting chairs lined against a wall.

Dean did as he was told. The people he passed on the queue stepped away as if he was some bug that could stain or infect them.

"Are you blind? You almost stepped on my shoe." A young girl who did not look older than twenty screamed at him as he tried to take a seat. 

"I'm sorry." Dean said. He knew he had been nowhere close to her shoes, but he was avoiding trouble. Her outfit looked expensive and she looked like one of those rich kids.

He took the seat beside her.

She stood up quickly as if her seat had begun to burn. 

"Could you not find anywhere else to sit?" She shrieked angrily. 

Everyone in the banking hall was staring at them now. 

"All the seats are taken as you can see." Dean said with a polite smile.

"Are you calling me blind?" She asked. "If the seats are taken, go stand somewhere. You cannot sit close to me."

Dean mentally weighed the choices he had. Again he chose peace. So he stood up and went to stand in a corner.

One hour passed and he was still standing, completely unattended to.