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Marian Allen writes science fiction, fantasy, mystery, humor, horror, mainstream, and anything else she can wrestle into fixed form. Allen has had stories in anthologies, on-line and print publications, including Oceans of the Mind and Canada's On Spec, on coffee cans and the wall of an Indian restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky. She writes a daily food history column for Worldwide Recipes.com, The Best Darned Recipezine in the Whole Darned Universe.

Deal Or No Deal by Marian Allen

I sit across the table from the man who's ruining my little girl's life. I tap my finger against my breast pocket. It goes tak tak against the envelope of money.

I take the envelope out and put it on the table. "One hundred bills," I say, "and every bill a hundred. You do the math."

"That all she's worth to you?"

"It's like this: I give this to you and you go away. Or I give it to a guy a know...and you go away."

He takes the money. Smarter than he looks.

THE END