Jake and Fez at
the Casino
by Michael A.
Skrien
Jake emerged
from the back seat of the Bentley like James Bond,
straightening his black bow tie and walking into
the Casino as though he owned it. He winked at
the cashier behind the cage large stack of money
for chips. He was headed straight for Roulette
Table.
Jake had spent
the last six months observing and placing small
time bets at The Casino Malaise, playing roulette.
He had a knack for remembering numbers and kept a
mental record of all the numbers that hit, how
often, at what time of day, and who was running
the table. He did this incognito so when he
appeared on this night, no one recognized him.
His entire
life’s savings would be on the line as his
mental acuity was tested. He approached the table,
glancing around the room. His black hair gelled
back, he looked confident. He set his chips on
the table and shoved half of them to “Black.”
This raised a few eyebrows as it was the maximum
bet - $100,000. He smiled at the croupier as if
to say: “Well?” The others placed their
bets and several parroted Jake’s bet,
feeling something big. The croupier gave the ball
a spin in what seemed a bit of an extra effort
for good measure. It spun around and around, a
few folks making late bets until the wave of the
hand over table signified no more bets. The ball
fell into the slotted section of the wheel and
began tumbling about. It bounced all over, off
the green “zero” slot which caused a
gasp and finally settled on a section between 33
and 14, dancing off the 20 and 33 and resting in
on RED 1.
“I’m
sorry, Monsieur.” The chips were raked away.
The table
groaned. Jake looked at the croupier, then around
the table. Faces of grief met his gaze. He
smirked and as soon as the chips were off the
table, he pushed all his remaining chips on one
number, RED 1.
“But
monsieur, that is a highly improbable bet! The
odds were more than 1400 against!”
The table was
giddy now, with whispers and even shouts to
others around the casino to come have a look.
“Leave it.”
Jake said. A few people supported Jake’s
claim despite the impossible odds and placed a
few chips on RED 1, hoping to be part of
something epic. Jake again nodded at the croupier,
who gave the tiny ball as hard a spin as he could
without flinging it across the room. It spun for
eternity, then started bouncing. The suspense was
over the top. It danced around the same area it
had last time, skipping over RED 1 more than once
as the crowd held its breath. The ball landed
directly on the rim of RED 1 and bounced seven
slots to its left and landed squarely in BLACK 29,
where it remained. “NOOOO!” The
audience groaned.
“I’m sorry, monsieur.” But then he
turned, “Congratulations, Sir! Well played!”
Jake and the
crowd turned to the man on the receiving end of a
$100,000 bet placed precisely on BLACK 29. It was
Fez dressed in his ballerina tutu.
|
