My cheeks and nose are freezing, but I’m hot in my ski clothes. As warm as I am, I want nothing more than to find a dry, windless place to unwind after all that exercise.
The drive is breathtaking, the turquoise blue water teasing a view of Lake Tahoe behind the snow-laden pines. Traveling towards the casinos on south shore there are some deer running uphill, into the wild. Soon I am at the California-Nevada border, casinos only a few minutes away.
Thank god for valet parking, my body is so sore that even the thought of a hike from the car to the casino is tiring. I glide to the nearest empty seat at a table and find a spinning roulette wheel. Fifty on black, I decided before I reached for my wallet, and I wait for this round to end so I can play.
Black wins and I decide to keep playing on the outside. I move my hundred over, odd is my next pick and I order a drink while I wait for the wheel. I win again. With my two hundred, and glass in hand, I stand slowly testing my mountain weary legs before walking away.
They ache, but I’d won and somehow that eases the pain. Looking around the room for my next conquest I see the wheel of fortune and go on over. I sit my roulette winnings down haphazardly, not realizing what I’d done the wheel starts to spin and the dealer is saying, “no more bets.”
It’s too late, the deal’s done and I watch, amazed that I’d sat two hundred down at 40 to 1. Spinning, spinning, and it’s slowing down. Click, click, click. Oh my GOD. I walk away with $8,000. I feel no pain, and I’m ready to hit the slopes again.
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