The minute the boy's fingers touched the stone, Charley knew she had him. There wasn't a thing he could do otherwise now, he had to take a shot. And miss, she hoped. When he was all splattered with gobstone juice, she was going to laugh long and hard. Chuck deserved it, just a little bit anyway, for running off the real prize with her first opponent.

Given the way her fortune was going today, she'd settle for one of the buttons on the boy's nice coat.

Charley guessed it'd be too much to ask for the whole coat. Still, a girl could dream, especially with the amount of time that the suspiciously-named Charles was taking to make his shot. "Put yer whole noggin to it, Chuck, she goaded him, an uneasiness nipping at her words. She bridled at how easily he could bring the edge out of her, what was so special about him anyway? He was just a big, old, Duke o' Limbs.

The urchin tried to busy herself by picking at the dirt under her fingernails. It didn't work very well for keeping her busy, but it might look enough that way. Charley bit on one experimentally, only to pull back and spit out the dirt she'd obviously missed. "If you take any longer, I might hafta pop out for tea."

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