What Makes Andy One Time the Best

Andy "One Time" Clemmons turned away from the reporter to contemplate the rows of green felt tables, now mostly uninhabited.

"You have to understand," he said, "that all of these amateurs here, it's like they're watching a foreign film without subtitles." He riffled a stack of chips with his left hand while he spoke. "If they're paying attention, they can usually figure out more or less what's going on, but they're missing all sorts of details. Now the pros, the pros, they can see the subtitles. Some of them follow the plot better than others, but you can't make it as a pro if you can't see the subtitles."

The reporter scribbled to keep pace, then when it was clear Andy was done, he looked up, over the top of his notepad, and half-smirked. "You didn't really answer my question, though. What makes you better than the other pros?"

"That's easy enough." He turned back to regard the reporter with a placid gaze. "I write the script."

Andy's eyes didn't waver though the reporter stared, speechless, for a full five seconds, before finally stammering, "then ... why don't you always win?"

Andy smiled slowly. "Do you ever dabble in fiction when you're not writing to pay the bills?"

The reporter blinked. "Yeah."

"Well, then you know that the characters don't always do what you want them to do, don't you?"