Thursday night was pretty lively at the casino. The convention was ending the next day and everyone seemed to want to have their party hats on. It was extremely crowded as well. Just after 8:00 PM I had to wait for a seat at a blackjack table. It was a $50 minimum bet table but I really wanted to play so I sat down and bought $4000 in chips. Everyone at the table seemed to know basic strategy for blackjack so I hung around. I hate playing with jerkoffs that don't know how to play. They almost always screw it up for the others.
I had managed to just about break even since I had been there. Some nights I won a little and some I lost a little. Tonight was different. I was winning my ass off. After a few hours I was up maybe 13-14 grand. I was loving it. I needed to piss so I asked the dealer to watch my stack and left. I leaned the chair forward to show that it was taken.
When I returned, the security guy that I had met on Sunday, and had talked to since a couple of times, was manhandling a young woman maybe 30 years old or so. As I walked up to the table he said, "Mr. Mathison, I need to talk to you."
I asked, "What's going on, Jim?"
"Well, this young lady was helping herself to some of your chips, Mr. Mathison. Now she's going to jail."
I looked at her and I could tell she was absolutely terrified. She had wedding rings on. I said, "No, no, no, she's with me.
"Janice, I told you that if you needed money and I wasn't here to wait till I got back."
She looked at me with a puzzled face but didn't say anything, thank goodness.
"You sure about this, Mr. Mathison?"
"I've asked you to call me James. And yes, I'm very sure. She's with me."
Jim said, "Sorry, ma'am, James. This was a big mistake on my part. I hope you understand." He walked away.
I told the dealer I'd be back shortly. I held "Janice" by the hand and led her to a secluded place. Well, as secluded as I could find in this crowd.
"What's the deal? Why did you try to steal chips from a blackjack table? Are you nuts? There's not one square inch of this place that's not being watched by cameras."
She was crying hysterically. After she settled down a bit she told me her name is Deanna and that she lost over a thousand dollars on slots and her husband said she was only to gamble a couple hundred. She had cashed in all the travelers checks and had no cash at all. She had to go home tomorrow and he was going to be furious and probably beat her mercilessly.
"Beat you?!?! Why do you stay with a man that beats you?"
"I have two children and no money, no family. I can't leave."
"Why are you here?"
"This convention. It's more of a motivational thing, to help people with sales."
"Do you work?"
"Yes, well, I'm a representative for Pampered Chef, You know, the kind that has the parties at people's homes and sells the kitchen utensils."
"Yes, I know about Pampered Chef, I have a lot of their stuff. How much money do you make a year?"
"Last year it was just over $47,000 after expenses. I'm expecting to double that this year."
"How much does your husband make?"
"Why all these personal questions? I'm not sure I should be telling you all of this."
"I'm trying to help you. I want to know what I need to do to be able to do that. How much?"
"He doesn't work a lot. He gets fired a lot, or quits. Most of the time he sits at home and drinks. He says he'd rather drink a beer than have sex with me. He's probably fucking our neighbor again right now. I can't believe I just told you that. It just slipped out. I'm sorry. Maybe $20,000."
"Wow, rather drink a beer than fuck this," I thought. "This guy is a moron, too."
"Look, here's $50. Get something to eat or drink or whatever but don't spend it on slots. Go to your room and stay there. Write down my room number. It's 212, and come by tomorrow just before you leave. I want to talk some more. I'll have a way to help you by then. Promise me you'll come by about an hour before you leave."
"I promise."
"What bank were the travelers checks issued by?"
"Bank of America. Why?"
"Never you mind. Come by tomorrow, ok?"
"I will for sure."
I finally went to my room about 5:00 AM. I was up well over 20K but was starting to lose. I had dropped about 3K in an hour so it was time for me to quit. Best night of blackjack I've ever had.
---
I had set my alarm on my iPhone and got up at eight. I showered, found the nearest Bank of America on my phone and headed out to run some errands. When I returned I went back to bed. A knock on my door woke me up at 11:00 AM. I threw the resort supplied robe on and answered the door. It was Deanna. She looked quite sheepishly at me.
"Come on in," I said as I yawned really big. "Please excuse me. I didn't get to bed until early this morning.
"I want to see pictures of your kids."
"Ok, why." As she looked through her purse then wallet.
She showed me pictures of two lovely little girls. "They're twins, eight years old." The one with light brown hair was Tanya. The other's hair was almost coal black just like Deanna's and had her facial features as well. Her name was Cheri. Deanna beamed with pride. I could tell she really loved these two girls.
"Does your husband abuse these two lovely girls in any way?"
"No, absolutely not. He knows I wouldn't allow that. He knows I'd probably have him jailed or kill him myself."
"Do you still love your husband?"
"No. Not for a long time now."
I sat down on the bed. She sat beside me and I told her to sit in the chair.
"Ok, Deanna. Here's the deal." I pulled out some traveler's checks. "Here's one thousand dollars in traveler's checks from Bank of America. These you are to make sure your husband knows about. In this envelope is $10,000 in cash. This you are to make sure that he does NOT know about."
"What? Why are you doing this? What do you want me to do?"
"Simple. Leave your husband."
"I'm not sure I can do that. I'd really and truly love to, but I'm not sure I can."-
"Deanna, it's a proven fact that men that abuse their wives do not stop. It always gets worse, never better. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes, but I don't understand why you would give this kind of money to a stranger. What else do you want me to do?"
"Nothing else. I won about $20,000 last night and it's money I don't really need. I've got plenty more. I don't believe in coincidence. God put you and I together for a reason and I think this is it. He wants me to help you start new. To help you get away from your abusive husband. Will you do what I ask?"
She thought hard for maybe five minutes. I stayed silent. "There's absolutely nothing else you want me to do?"
"No, nothing else. Just take your girls and get away from this abusive bastard. It's only going to get worse if you stay."
"I'll have to do some planning, but with this money I could probably get it done. I thought you were going to ask me to go to bed with you or at least kill someone for this kind of money."
"First, there's only one person I want dead and I don't know where he is and don't care. Second, you are definitely a fine looking woman, but these are not the right circumstances for that. Third, I don't bang married women...ever."
"I'll take your money on one condition."
"Ok, what's that?"
"I want your address so I can pay you back. I'm not a freeloader. I always pay back what I owe."
"But you won't owe me anything. I told you I've got plenty more."
"Deal or no deal? It's up to you."
"Ok, it's a deal." I wrote my name, address and cell number on a piece of resort stationery and handed it to her. She slid it inside the envelope with the cash.
She said, "Thank you very much Mr. Mathison." Then kissed me on the cheek. She turned to leave then stopped and turned to me and said, "You know I would have. That's why I sat on the bed beside you. I thought that's what you expected. I was that desperate. I still will if you change your mind."
"No. I don't do married women. It's extremely tempting but you are still married. You should at least wait until you leave him to do something like that. It's really not right while you're still together. Take care of those girls."