I liked to watch them, it’s a game I play. When my table is empty I look around and try to guess which person will be the next to sit in front of me.

About ten feet away a small elderly woman decided to empty her machine. I watched her as she loaded her winnings into buckets. Three full, I wondered if she’d be able to carry the money across the casino to the cashier.

She stood up straight, her gray hair barely reaching the height of the slot machine reels she was standing in front of. Just as she managed to lift one of the heavy buckets, the man who I’d seen enter the casino was by her side and reaching to pick up two of the buckets full of nickels.

“Thank you son,” she said to the tall man who was about half her age.

“You did well mother,” the man said.

“Yes, I suppose I did,” she said with a chuckle in her voice. Their conversation faded as they walked away. It was clear these two wouldn’t be heading to my table, so I kept looking around.

“Who would it be?” I thought to myself.

A man, about twenty-five, was heading towards me, and an older man was moving swiftly through the slot machines, also heading my direction.

I cast a mental vote, betting to myself that it would be the twenty-something guy.

The young man stopped and sat abruptly at the roulette table beside me, flipping a twenty onto black as fast as he’d taken his seat.

The older gentleman passed my table as quickly as he’d passed the slot machines.

Just then a woman sat down.

“Slow night?” she asked me. “Your table’s empty.”

“Yes,” I said, “but I’m keeping busy.”

I shuffled the deck and leaned the cards towards her so she could cut.

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