Swindler's Folly

``So, so, looky here, I have three cups, right?'' He began.

``Yes...'' Tom replied reluctantly.

``So, so, I have this pea. See this pea?'' He held the pea between his forefinger and thumb and raised it at eye-level.

``Yes...''

``So, so, this pea, I put it under this cup, see this pea under the cup?'' He said as he did what he described. The pea went underneath the centre cup.

``Yes...''

``So, so, now I cover the pea, and I mix up the cups?'' He said as he deftly shuffled the upturned cups about. Tom could hear the pea rattling as it hit the walls of the cup as it was moved about.

At first, Tom tried to follow the cup where the pea was below it, but he soon gave up and just watched the street dealer move the cups around.

And then, he stopped.

``So, so, which cup has the pea?'' He asked in an encouraging voice. ``Place bet of ten dollars and tell me?''

``Eh... this one,'' Tom said as he pointed to the first cup. He was sort of following the cups unconsciously; it was something that was hard to ignore given his... condition.

He lifted up the cup that Tom pointed to. Sure enough, there was a pea underneath it.

``Very very good! Here's your ten and another ten dollars. Wanna make another bet?''

Tom shrugged. ``Sure, why not?''

``So, so, this pea, now I take out and put it below the middle cup again?'' He proceeded to shuffle the cups once more like before.

``So, so, see me mixing up the cups? Bet twenty? Gimme chance to get some money back from you?''

``Sure, why not?'' Tom sighed. He had some time to kill, might as well play along.

He stopped his shuffling and looked up at Tom with eager eyes.

``So, so, which cup has the pea?''

Tom looked at the cups, and looked at the man dead in the eye.

``None of them has the pea. Reveal all the cups.''

The command tone startled the man, and he found himself replacing each cup right side up, revealing that there was no pea under each one.

``No, no, no...'' the man protested. ``This should not be the case!''

``Too bad,'' Tom said. ``I know your tricks. I'm just bored. Hand me my twenty now.''

(Based on an exercise generated by WriteThis - 10-Feb-2014 21:18:35)