Throw the Dice by M Scott Swanson

Author:M Scott Swanson
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Creative Chaos
Published: 2019-09-28T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

Sonia orders Trent a club sandwich, and we walk back to the casino together. She peels off right to take Trent his lunch, and I head for the twenty-five-dollar blackjack tables.

The spiked dirty blond hair apparition blocks my path. "Going back to the blackjack tables?"

I roll my eyes, "what's it to you."

"Since we can communicate, I thought we could have a little fun."

"I'm busy," I say as I step around him.

He reappears in front of me and holds out his hands, "hey, slow down and listen to me."

"What did you say your name is?"

"Alvin," he stands taller, "Alvin Lewinsky."

"Alvin, I'm busy."

"You want to hear me out."

Sure. Because every girl needs to hear out a dead man claiming he wants to have some fun with her. Against my better judgment, and in the hope he will leave me alone afterward, I cross my arms and say, "you've got one minute."

He flashes his rotten teeth, "Now look. Nobody else in this dump can see me. Well, no live people. So, here's what I'm proposing. I'll read the deck and give you a thumbs up or thumbs down. Thumb up take a card thumb down hold."

"Are you done?" I ask.

Yes."

"Not interested," I intend to walk around Alvin, and half my body passes through him, causing both of us to give a brief shudder of disgust.

"Aw come on now. If you ain't cheating, you're only cheating yourself."

I stop dead in my tracks as a chill runs up my spine. Alvin knows precisely which buttons to press to get my attention.

How many times in my life have I heard my brother Chase make the same comment, or his second favorite "if you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'"? Chase's hyper-competitiveness often leads him to bend the rules to secure a victory. I call it cheating, he calls it giving it all you got.

"Listen, I know you mean well," or at least I think he does, "but please leave me alone. If I win or lose, I'm going to do it on my own, and I don't need any coaching from you."

"What about if I flash the value of the next card?"

"No! No signaling."

"Can I at least watch you?"

Peaches. "Sure. You can watch but no signaling and especially no talking." I turn and head toward the tables without waiting for his confirmation.

​​​​

Thirty minutes later I think I should've taken Alvin up on the help. I've blown through three hundred and twenty dollars.

Alvin, for his part, holds true to his word. He's not said a single thing to me while standing behind the dealer. As for the signaling, his vulgar gestures of disgust with each losing hand can't be considered signaling. Unless he's signaling I'm an idiot.

There's something profoundly different about this game compared to the game I played with August at my side. Confidence. I'm missing the confidence of knowing I'm going to manifest a win. I'm past the point of thinking Granny's ideas are bull malarkey. I need money, or I'm going to be homeless when my last eighty dollars run out unless there is some truth to her belief.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.