[ WP ] You can see the darkest secret of everyone you meet . As you enter your house , expecting to see the usual abusive father story of your spouse , you stop ; it has changed .

[ Great Prompt! I ’ m late to the party, but here goes nothing ] 
 
 
 I ’ m thinking of becoming a pro poker player. Daniel Negreanu, Jamie Goyd, Johnny Chan, et al. They ’ d have nothing on me. They ’ re too professional. They care too much. Radio waves sing their excitement through the air, straight to me. I don ’ t have to look have to look at the little cards the Sports Network puts in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. In the finals, everybody has his hand written on his forehead. Afterwards, they are all branded with the same secret: THIEF THIEF THIEF on every man and woman, in every interview, every time. 
 
 
 It doesn ’ t mean that they steal, or even that they nicked a candies from a penny-stores when they were wee. I suppose it ’ s their old lies, eating their guts up inside. 
 
 
 If you took a man from his home, bound him to a chair, tortured him until he died while screaming “ Tell me! Tell me! ” and wrote his last words on his forehead, you would see him as I do. People are made of nerve-endings and shame. 
 
 
 Hindu women are immune, when they wear the bindi. Christians, too, who mark their brow on ash Wednesday. Neo-Nazis with swastika Tattoos between their eyes, one of the few groups of who look ordinary to me. Psychopaths are always clean. 
 
 
 Babies have secrets, though I try not look at them for too long, it ’ s... uncomfortable. Like staring into the sun. 
 
 
 When I was a child, it was a dot on the forehead, of a colour you ’ ve never seen. By the time I was nine I knew how the universe coloured adulteresses, and I blackmailed Dr. Hassenhoff into helping me hone my talents. She ’ s a charming woman, a little pudgy, terrified of me, but useful. A truly talented psychologist, with two kids, perfectly suited for my ends. After three years of bi-weekly sessions, we refined the coloured dots into words and I released her. She moved to Florida. The first words I ever saw were on her forehead. She wasn ’ t an ADULTRESS anymore. Her ‘ last words ’ were JAMIE GOLDSTEIN. 
 
 
 Do you think it ’ s a good name for a professional poker player? Seems sort of tacky for a gambling man to have a Jewish name, but it really can ’ t be helped. Enough about me, though. I think you know me pretty well by now, better than anyone, except, of course, Hassenhoff. 
 I miss her. 
 
 
 Oh yeah, Katherine. You wanted to know about her, right? 
 
 
 Her Mother ’ s dead ( emphysema, age 34, Katherine and I were 13 ). Our families were close, and I attended the funeral. There, in the open casket, I looked at a dead body for the first time. To my joy, I could still see it! BURDEN! Right across the corpse ’ s face! The bigger the guilt, the bigger the letters, and there they were, B-U-R-D-E-N, BURDEN! 
 
 
 Huzzah? 
 
 
 Her father is a coal miner. An ape of a man, Katherine ’ s lucky she didn ’ t take after him. He was one of the ones who inspired me to hone my talents with the good doctor. That is, his colour was unique. I couldn ’ t, therefore, place his shame by categorizing him amoung people of similar life-styles ( married, unmarried, divorced, parents, pastors, ect. ). I had to know. Not knowing makes me very upset. 
 
 
 As my time with Hassenhoff made his sin more clear, I began to understand why I couldn ’ t quite place his colour before. His shame was complex and unique. Where a word will do for most men, he needed an entire phrase. It barely fits on his broad face, the letters are so big with pain. 
 
 
 LET DADDY FUCK ME 
 
 
 It ’ s so funny, ‘ DADDY ’ written with infinite fear across the face of the biggest bastard in town. The man mines coal for fuck ’ s sake. He ’ s the size of a goddamn tank. If I didn ’ t have my gift, I would have run from his daughter ’ s cunt and off a cliff, but I do so I ’ m fucking her. 
 
 
 Who ’ s going to resist the lonely girl at school with a brand-new pair of tits and KATHERINE GOLDSTEIN on her face in pink? Not I. 
 The mistake was getting too close. She used to wonder about her father ’ s moods. His drinking. She caught me at a... sensitive moment. I guess I blabbed. Told her I heard it somewhere. 
 
 
 She went to him. They talked, he cried. I could hear it through the walls. I should have left, but I was tired to I pretended to sleep. 
 The next morning at the breakfast table, yet another person with my name on his face. Katherine ’ s father, lips pursed, all anger and quietude. KILL JAMIE on his forehead and something else, tiny and fractically repeated as he handed me my eggs. 
 
 
 “ Something wrong, James? ” He asked. 
 
 
 “ A mite in my eye, ” I replied, squinting at him so I could make out the littler words on his face. 
 
 
 poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison poison 
 
 
 I threw my coffee in his face and ran. 
 
 
 So that, in answer to your question, is how I came to be on the first train out of town in my pyjama pants. Say, do you mind hopping into the loo with me when the conductor comes by, and handing your single ticket under the door? I heard it in an old joke, but I think it could work. 
 Oh, c ’ mon, I ’ ve told you my biggest secret, you can help a fellow out. Especially when he ’ s about to move to a new city, change his name and become the greatest poker player of all time! 
 
 
 That is too my biggest secret, and how I ‘ waste ’ my talents is not of your concern. Especially when I ’ ve already implied how much you Hindi women piss me off. 
 
 
 Of course you ’ re Hindi, you ’ re wearing the- 
 
 
 Oh fuck you, don ’ t fuck with me. That ’ s a very nice try and all but- 
 
 
 Well I try not to look at my own face personally- 
 
 
 Yeah. Yeah. That ’ s um- accurate. I have to say, I never imagined- well, in any case it ’ s wonderful to meet you, I am Jamie Goldstien ( COWARD ). 

