The Gambler

Story told by:
Nicolas Nathan
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This man loved to gamble, but with his horrible luck, he always lost. His wife was getting fed-up with his gambling habits, always threatening to leave him, putting a big strain on their marriage. So he decided that he went to a bomoh in hopes that his luck would turn around in gambling.

The bomoh told him that whenever he gambled (he played Mahjong) he had to put a coin that had a charm on it underneath his tongue. If he uses the coin, he will win the game , but he can only "makan" or "eat" certain tiles. So after meeting the bomoh, the man went back to gambling.

For 2 years straight, he had never lost a game. He kept winning and winning. Nothing could stop him, so he started to get filthy rich. His wife was happy with his fortune as well and she reconciled with him and their new-found fortune.

The man's life seemed to turn around for him. He was getting richer, and the wife announced one day she was pregnant. He couldn't believe his luck that the coin had given him.

2 weeks away from the wife scheduled to give birth, the man started to feel greedy. The current bet was very high, a shocking 7-figure number. Heeding the warning the bomoh gave to him, he "makan"/"ate" other tiles in the end. The coin underneath his tongue immediately split in half. The man thought "Shit... But oh well at least I win."

The man thought nothing of it until the birth of his child. He was shocked to see that his newly-born daughter was born without a face. She only had a very small slit for a mouth and two small holes for a nose.

Doctors first thought it was just excess skin covering her face and that surgery would regain her facial appearance. But after examination, apparently she really had no face. There was nothing underneath all that skin.