by Simon Archer
“The program sparked on both machines when the people were pushing that button. Whenever they would push a different button, the spark would stop,” Rosie explained.
“Okay, we have to get out of here,” I told her. I tugged on Kennedi as I reached out and grabbed Rosie’s hand. I turned and started leading the two of them back into the hotel lobby.
“Why are we leaving?” Rosie asked innocently. I kept walking until we had exited the hotel and were on the sidewalk. When we stopped, I turned to Rosie and gently put my hands on her shoulders to make sure I had her complete focus.
“What you did in there was incredibly generous and very big-hearted,” I started. “However, the casino bosses would consider it cheating, and both you and the woman who won could get in a lot of trouble.” I wanted to explain my concern to her in a way that didn’t make her feel bad because I knew she had helped the woman with truly naïve intentions. She stared up at me, straight-faced, with her amber eyes wide, for a long moment.
“Oh,” she whispered. Just when I thought I was going to see the sadness on her face, her face lit up. “But you should have felt the energy from that woman when she won! If the casino bosses had felt it, they would spend all day hoping more people would win!”
She looked over at Kennedi and did a small excited clap. The two of them started bouncing around and squealing with happiness. I stood there feeling as though I had just been ejected from a roller coaster by weird logic and emotion. I was happy that Rosie was happy yet concerned about her lack of concern when it came to breaking casino rules. She glanced over and must have seen some confusion on my face because she slid up beside me, looped her arm through mine, laid her head on my arm while she looked up at me, and smiled.
“I won’t do it again, I promise,” she said softly. She squeezed my arm and then let go and went back to celebrating with Kennedi. All I could do was roll my eyes at the two of them and laugh. There were some specific places I wanted to show the girls, and I realized we had better get moving.
“Come on, you two,” I urged them gently. “If you want me to show you anything, we have to start walking!” The Stratosphere was located at the far north end, and I wanted to make it at least to the Bellagio and back before my poker game.
“What are you going to show us?” They both asked the same time. I smiled and winked at each of them while shrugging.
“I’m not telling you things about Vegas, I’m showing them to you!” I joked. They each took an arm, and we started strolling down the strip.
I spent the better part of the next three hours showing Kennedi and Rosie the Las Vegas strip. A good portion of that time was taken up by the girls stopping to watch street performers. We had seen dance squads, spray-can painters, acrobats, sketchers, instrumentalists, and singers, just to name a few. Kennedi was most fascinated by the artists we came across. Rosie loved the dancers because of their high-energy, and the excitement they evoked from a crowd.
We stopped by the M&M Factory, The Venetian, and Caesar's Palace. The girls stood and stared at the ceiling in Caesar’s for a solid five minutes before we could move on. After Caesar’s, we headed to the Bellagio. I toured them around the inside which I had always found rather unimpressive, before taking them out to the fountains. The two of them stood, giggling and pointing as the water sprayed up and danced in different directions. The lights under the water were a lot more powerful than the last time I had seen them so, even though it was still daylight, the water changed colors. That was my favorite place to go in Vegas, and watching Kennedi and Rosie experience it for the first time made me appreciate it even more. We stayed for three rounds of fountain-works, before heading back to the Stratosphere. We strolled lazily while the girls pointed at the various curiosities they saw.
We were just passing Harrah’s when a short, sweaty man, stepped in front of us and started throwing little paper cards out as though he was fanning cash into a crowd. The three of us stepped back, slightly startled as a few of the cards hit us in the chest and fell to the ground. The man disappeared back into an alley that none of us had noticed was there. One of the cards had stuck right between Kennedi’s cleavage.
“Let me get that for you,” I teased and winked at her. I plucked the card out from between her tits and handed it to her, already knowing what it was. She took it from my hand and looked at it. Rosie scooted over next to her so she could see it as well. Both girls’ ears turned forward, backward, and forward again as they looked at the card. Kennedi unfolded it and read the inside. She handed it to Rosie to read. When Rosie was done, both she and Kennedi slowly turned their heads to look at me. I busted up laughing.
“Are these really prostitute cards?” Kennedi exclaimed.
“Yes,” was all I could get out through my laughter.
“I knew prostitution was legal here, but I was unaware that they threw it at you!” she said, shocked. Rosie was shaking her head furiously.
“That is most certainly not my idea of proper marketing tactics,” Rosie chimed in.
“You two should have seen the look on your faces!” The thought made me laugh even harder. Both girls put their hands on their hips and tried to stare me down. Their feigned aggravation made the situation even funnier. They could not keep up their stern looks for long, however, before they both collapsed into giggles themselves.
As we continued to walk back to the Stratosphere, every so often, I would just start laughing again when I would think of how surprised they had both looked after reading the card. Each time I did, the girls would either smack me playfully with their tails or glare at me and then start laughing with me.
14
The girls and I were standing at the elevator, waiting for it to take us up to our room when we saw Charlie walk into the lobby. The elevator had just opened, so we held it while he hurried over.
“How was your meeting?” I asked him as the elevator took us up.
“It went a bit longer than planned but turned out to be satisfactorily productive,” he replied. “I have one more tomorrow morning, and I’m hoping we stay on schedule. Did you three have a good time this afternoon?” Kennedi and Rosie instantly launched into telling stories of all of the things they had seen on the streets of Vegas. When they told him about the hooker card, he laughed almost as hard as I had.
“I’m surprised the guy didn’t try to recruit you two!” Charlie said between chuckles. The girls gasped.
“Absolutely not!” Kennedi nearly shouted. “Eww!”
“I’m just kidding, Kennedi. I promise!” Charlie responded, turning himself towards the wall to avoid being whacked by her tail. The elevator doors opened onto our floor, and the four of us headed to our rooms.
“How long do you need to get ready for the game?” Charlie asked me as we unlocked our doors.
“Meet you back out here in ten minutes?” I replied.
“Sounds good,” he said as he opened his room’s door and headed inside.
The girls and I went into our room. I grabbed a change of clothes from my suitcase and headed to the bathroom to get cleaned up for the game. I had left the bathroom door open, and Kennedi came inside and stood in the doorway while I changed clothes.
“Rosie and I were chatting about some of the art galleries in nearby hotels,” she started. “Will we have time tomorrow to go look at them?” She knew we were on a tight schedule, but we hadn’t exactly planned our itinerary down to the minute.
“Unfortunately, we won’t have time tomorrow. We will be flying out directly after breakfast when Charlie gets done with his meeting. He told me that they are starting at six. The galleries won’t be open that early,” I explained to her.
“Oh, alright,” she replied. Her voice sounded normal, but I saw a small flash of disappointment in her pretty green eyes. If there was one thing I never wanted, it was for Kennedi to be disappointed.
“How about this?” I started. “Those galleries will be open for at least another five hours. If you want, you and Rosie go check
them out while Charlie and I are playing poker.” I saw the light in her eyes perk up immediately, but her brow furrowed at the same time.
“Are you sure you don’t want us to go to the game with you? What if you need something?” she asked. She was torn between wanting to see the art and worrying about me. I walked over to her and wrapped my arms around her waist. I kissed her playfully on the nose and smiled at her.
“I am going to be flopping around cards with Charlie, and Hammy, and talking about what I imagine will turn out to be mostly just guy stuff. There will be waitresses, and concierges, and doormen at every turn, so if I need something, I will be able to get it, no problem,” I assured her. “You and Rosie should go browse to your heart’s content!” My attempt to relieve her worry was successful. A huge smile crept across her face. She threw her arms around my neck and pressed her lips against mine. When she hugged me, she whispered in my ear.
“Thank you!”
“You’re welcome!” I told her. I let go of her waist and reached over to my wallet, which was sitting on the bathroom counter. I opened it, pulled out a credit card, and handed it to her.
“Here. If you find something you just fall in love with, bring it home with you,” I instructed her. She took the card from me and held it to her chest excitedly.
“You mean besides you?” She winked at me and immediately ran out to the living room to tell Rosie that they were going to see the art galleries.
Ten minutes later, we were in the hallway with Charlie. The three of us took the elevator down to the main lobby. The girls each kissed me goodbye and headed in the opposite direction that Charlie and I were to go.
“Where are they going?” he asked me, looking surprised.
“To check out art galleries. They won’t have time to do it tomorrow, so I told them to go do it now. I think they will have more fun doing that than sitting around watching us boys play poker,” I replied.
“I’m going to have to be sure to bring them next time Leah comes out here with me so she will have somebody to keep her occupied while I play poker!” Charlie joked.
“I am sure anyone of them would be happy to come! You should have seen how excited they were at every little thing we discovered on the strip today!” I told him as the two of us walked into the casino lobby. I followed Charlie through the slot machine area, past the poker tables, and roulette tables, until we arrived at a closed-door across from the cages. A uniformed doorman tipped his hat to Charlie and opened the door for us.
The VIP room was completely decked out to accommodate up to ten poker players for countless hours of playtime. Directly inside the door was a concierge, a wrought iron coat hanger, and a shoe rack. Charlie started taking off his shoes. When he had them off, the concierge handed him a pair of sheepskin slippers. I followed suit, and the concierge handed me my own pair. He had not asked me what size shoe I wore but somehow handed me the right size slipper set. Charlie and I put our shoes on the shoe rack and slipped our feet into the slippers, and I followed him to the poker table off to our left, at the back of the room. A tall, black-haired man stood behind the table with a dealer’s uniform on. He smiled at Charlie and offered his hand to shake as we walked up.
“Hello, again, Mr. Lindy,” the man said, smiling at Charlie. Charlie let go of his hand and turned to me.
“Clark, this is Jason. He has been my dealer for at least ten years now,” he introduced me.
“It’s nice to meet you, Jason,” I said as I shook the man’s hand. “Don’t go letting Charlie win just because you’ve known him longer!” I joked. Jason smiled politely and gave me a single nod of acknowledgment.
“He is the most honest car dealer in Vegas.” Charlie chuckled and sat down directly across from Jason. He gestured with his hand across the table, indicating I should pick whichever seat I wanted. I chose the one directly to Jason’s left. The moment I sat down, a young, blonde, big-breasted waitress was at my side.
“What will you have to drink, Mr. Watkins?” Her use of my last name took me by surprise.
“Clark. Please, call me Clark,” I said. “I’ll start with a Grey Goose on the rocks, with a twist of lime.”
“Very good, Clark.” She hurried away just as I realized that Charlie had his own waitress taking his drink order. I caught his eye and laughed.
“I didn’t want to share my waitress with you, anyway!” I joked with him. He shot me an amused grin.
“I wish I could say that we have our own waitresses strictly in the spirit of perfect service. However, the reality is that every precaution is taken to keep anyone from seeing two different card hands,” Charlie informed me. It made perfect sense. I simply haven’t thought of it because, up until then, I was used to backroom bar poker games played in whatever town I was working my way through. Had those bars given us individual waitresses, there would have been a lot fewer fistfights over accusations of cheating.
I heard the door open and looked up to see Hammy walking in. He was a big man, standing at almost six-foot, two inches tall. He had put on a few pounds since I had last seen him and was probably nearing two-hundred-fifty pounds. His short, reddish-blond hair was perfectly groomed, as it always was. I got up and met him at the door. When he saw me, his entire pale-skinned face broke into a smile. We shook hands hard, and I slapped him on the shoulder.
“How the hell are ya?” I asked him.
“I’m wondering why there is a shoe rack by the door?” he laughed loudly.
“In the VIP room, we treat our feet to sheepskin slippers,” I joked and motioned towards the concierge standing behind him, holding his slippers.
“Well, how about that!” he boomed. Hammy’s voice was as big as he was. He kicked off his shoes and took his slippers from the concierge. When he had them securely on his feet, he stood up, put his hands on his hips, and rolled back on his heels. He wiggled his toes in the front of his slippers as if to show off his fancy new footwear. “These aren’t bad at all!”
“It’s damn good to see you, Hammy! Come on over here and pick a spot at the table,” I instructed him. He followed me to the poker table where Charlie was waiting to meet him.
“Hammy, this is Charlie Lindy. Charlie, Hammy,” I introduced the two of them.
“Charlie!” Hammy said cheerily. “Clark has told me a lot about you! How the hell do you put up with him?” Both Hammy and Charlie broke out in laughter.
“I give grace to those who put up with me, so it has been pretty easy so far!” Charlie joked. I could tell from the smile on Charlie’s face that he was instantly comfortable with Hammy.
“I’m happy you can make it for this!” Charlie waved his hand, gesturing throughout the room.
“I thought about standing Clark up the way he did when he said he was coming to my house to stay for a while, but then I thought better of it. If I didn’t show up here tonight, he might actually come to my house!” Hammy scrunched up his face like he had just tasted something bitter before breaking into a teasing smile.
“Ha!” Charlie replied. He lifted up his drink and pretended to toast Hammy.
“I’m going to show up at your house unannounced with my four catgirls for the sole reason that you’re being an ass! Now pick a seat, sit down, and shut up!” I laughed.
“Oh, you know I’m just messing with you!” he said. “I’m not sure I want to sit down, these slippers are really comfortable!” Hammy looked down at his feet again, and then up to Charlie and me. He bounced both his eyebrows up and down and smiled.
“Fucking nut job!” I told him, shaking my head like I could not believe what I was hearing.
“Oh, alright,” he said dramatically. “But I’m not sitting on the same side as you!” Charlie laughed and pointed to the seat across the table from me.
“I suggest that one,” Charlie added, jumping in on the joke.
“I’m suddenly rethinking your invitation, Hammy!” I spat out in fake exasperation.
“Now, now, don’t do that!” he said in an overly calmi
ng tone. “It will make Charlie sad if I leave!” He winked at Charlie and sat down with a throaty laugh. A waitress, this one was tiny and had dark hair, showed up at Hammy’s side instantly.
“What can I get you to drink?” she asked politely. Hammy had not seen her walk up and jumped like a bee had just stung him.
“Oh my, little lady!” Hammy said, putting his hand on his chest like he had just been saved from a heart attack. “Look at you! So tiny I didn’t even see you there! What’s your name?” The waitress looked caught off-guard.
“Lizzy,” she answered quietly.
“Well, Lizzy, I’ll have whichever microbrew is your favorite!” he told her.
“Sir, I don’t drink beer, so I would not be able to choose for you and be confident that it was good,” she told him. Hammy’s mouth dropped open in fake disbelief.
“You don’t drink beer?” he said, sounding shocked.
“Actually,” Lizzy started. “I don’t drink at all.” Hammy’s mouth dropped open even further.
“Well, you have just given me hope for the future, Lizzy!” Hammy said to her. “If you can work in a place like this and stay away from things like alcohol, it means it is possible that perhaps my daughters could become nuns, like you!” Lizzy smiled at him a little and shrugged.
“That drink?” she asked again.
“I’ll have one of what Clark is having, and a shot of whatever Charlie is drinking!” Hammy told her. She looked up at the two of us.
“Grey Goose Vodka on the rocks with a twist,” I told her. Hammy, of course, did not know that we each had our own waitress, so she had not taken our orders.
“Knob Creek, straight,” Charlie told her. With a quick nod of her head, Lizzy turned and left to get Hammy’s drinks. Hammy settled up to the table and looked over at me.
“All jokes aside, it really is good to see you, buddy,” he said to me. “So, what are we playing?”
“I’m a Blackjack man myself,” Charlie answered him. “If you have a different preference, I don’t mind changing up.”
