"You were saying, mister?"
He was seeing the halo, of course, the rim of gold about my head. I was pretty sure he wouldn't even ask me to cover my bet.
The copper piece on my palm seemed to fascinate him. He couldn't take his eyes from it.
"What will it be?" I asked.
He swallowed hard. "Heads!" he said.
I flipped the coin.
"Tails it is!" I told him.
He stared at my palm suspiciously. I grinned and handed him the copper piece. There was nothing wrong with it.
"I never cheat!" I said.
I walked over to where she stood collecting rust in the red Jupiterlight—the ship I'd picked out. She wasn't so ancient as old ships go. She must have been built around 2097, just a hundred years before I'd won her. We were riding hard on your luck!