Abracadabra by David Kranes

Author:David Kranes [Kranes, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780874176001
Publisher: University of Nevada Press

By the time Mark Goodson has finished half of his shrimp cocktails and drunk two of his mai tais, he’s feeling frisky. So he pulls a couple thousand out of his stash and rides the elevator down to the Planet Hollywood casino.

It’s two in the morning, and the floor is quiet. It seems a safe hour to do something that the CPA, Mark Goodson, would never do. Not many people around—no one who can possibly know him.

But what is it that not-Mark-Goodson might enjoy? A drink at the bar? He’s done that. Playing dollar slots? He’s done that, too.

He finds an open craps table. A young college couple is playing. And an old man who coughs a lot. At the far end of the table are two men in silk suits and florid shirts who look Polynesian. They’re talking animatedly in a language Mark can’t understand. They seem happy, even silly, and Mark takes it they’re winning.

Mark studies the layout. “What’s a big six?” he asks a dealer.

“You bet it, six comes up: you get paid even money.”

“But why is it big,” Mark asks.

“Why is grass green?” the dealer says. “Why is the Big Easy the Big Easy? Because it’s not the Little Easy. Would you want to make a bet if it said little six?”

“Possibly not.”

“There you go,” the dealer says.

Mark pulls the two thousand from his pocket and holds it out.

“Drop it on the table,” the dealer says.

Mark drops the sheaf of bills. The dealer picks them up, then lays the bills out in two rows of ten. “Two thousand!” he announces, and when another man, wearing a suit and sitting in the middle of the table, echoes two thousand! he bunches each pile around a plastic plunger and forces them down through a slot in the table. Then he slides two stacks of chips—one black, one green—across to Mark. “Two thousand,” he says.

Mark picks up his chips, drops them in his rack. “I’ll just watch,” he says.

One of the Polynesians rolls the dice—a six.

The dealer points. “That’s a big six,” he says.

“I’m learning fast,” Mark says.

The Polynesian rolls the dice again. “Nine!” The old coughing man just down from Mark has some chips on the nine, and the dealer pays him.

“What’s the best bet on the table?” Mark asks.

“Seven.”

“Where do I bet it?”

When the dealer points to the come line, Mark lifts all the black chips from his tray and sets them there. The dealer books the bet: “Fifteen hundred! Coming!”

The Polynesian rolls—a seven!

Mark grins, but the Polynesian slams his fist on the table.

“Why’s he angry?” Mark asks.

“He sevened out.”

“But you said—”

The dealer waves Mark’s question away. He slides Mark his stack of blacks and a second stack equal to it.

“How much did I win?” Mark asks.

“Fifteen hundred,” the dealer said.

Mark feels pleased with himself and wishes Lena could be beside him, just for the moment. It would excite her. “Pretty good, huh?” Mark tries for a chumminess with the dealer.

“It’ll buy you breakfast,” the dealer says.

Mark feels annoyed.

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