The Game Went On

At the end of the row of tables I saw my favorite game, and my usual seat was empty as if waiting for me.

The other player at the table was a woman.

“Is this seat taken?” I asked her as I pointed to the end chair.

She shook her head no as she fidgeted with her bright pink stack of chips. She held her chips close, shadowing the mid size stack with her left hand.

I bought in with a hundred, choosing yellow as my color.

“So, come here often?” I asked the young lady. She sat there motionless, as if I hadn’t spoken.

“Who me? I work here,” the dealer said with a chuckle.

The woman shifted in her chair and gave a nervous laugh as she glanced for a quick moment in my direction.

Not very talkative, I thought to myself, as I decided if another attempt for conversation would be wise.

She seemed to favor 11, I noticed, as I eyed the numbers. Eleven was covered in pink. It held a stack of ten with two on every edge and one on every corner. And, she had played the top third with a stack of five.

The marble was slowing, she sat up straight, stretching her neck a bit to see onto the roulette wheel.

I watched the television monitor, from my end of the table, as it displayed the wheel.

“Twenty-two,” the dealer said as he placed the marker down.

After I had bought in I had placed about half of my stack on the bottom third so I was happy with my return.

“All right,” I said with a smile as I collected my new chips.

The woman sat beside me, sullen, as if exhausted from a long day.

“Sorry, better luck next time,” I said to her.

Finally she spoke. “That would be nice,” she said as she stared down at the table.

The wheel was in motion again and we were still placing our bets.

Her stack was half as tall now and I saw her push them straight up on eleven. She held the stack, still touching it, as if playing a game of chess where releasing touch of the piece means an unchangeable move.

Seeing her struggle over the decision didn’t last long because soon the dealer waved his hand and said, “no more bets.” She withdrew her fingers and sat, waiting anxiously.

For this spin, I had decided I liked seventeen and had bet twenty on it straight up. I sat and waited, deciding to keep quiet instead of trying to make a new friend.

As the wheel slowed, she did not peer over towards it. She sat very still, with her eyelids closed, as she waited for the dealer to speak.

“Lucky seventeen,” he said with a smile my direction.

The woman was done, no chips left to play, as she silently gathered her sweater and purse and walked away.

“Was it something I said?” I asked the dealer as we both watched her leave.

“That gal has been at this table since I started this shift,” he said as he counted out my winnings. “And you got her to talk more than I could.”

I tipped him eleven chips and the game went on.

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