The best seat at midnight is opposite the departures

The bus station has one bench facing the wall. At midnight it was the only seat left, so I parked myself at the end of it with a bag of oranges for my sister.

A cleaner knocked his broom against the bench and asked a teenager if he knew gin rummy. The kid said he'd never seen anyone play cards without a phone. The cleaner pulled out a deck with two different backs and said it didn't matter as long as you didn't look.

By half past twelve there were four of us. I peeled the oranges between hands. We kept the score on the back of a receipt until somebody used it to wipe orange juice off the bench. The kid won three hands and got on the first bus out without ever learning the score.

I told my sister I got stuck at the station. I could have left after the first hand.