TAKING A CHANCE

It was one night when two of my friends and I were smoking cigarettes in the front porch and we all wanted to eat, but had no money. Those days were dependent on financial aid to pay for groceries and school supplies. It held me awhile until the next paychecks came in.

Mike took out a $10 bill and said "if I can make this $10 bill into $40 I will take both you and Brandon out to Denny's." We hopped into his car and drove to Table Mountain Casino where he would chance his luck on the slot machines. While on the drive we were trying to play a tape of the band WOODS on his deck, but it kept spewing out. We let the remainder of the drive there talking about nothing.

We entered the casino and it was full of smoke, slot machine lights, and a vibe full of static. I looked around and saw that Brandon and Mike proceeded to evaluate what machine he wanted to use to earn some winnings. I paid no attention as I browsed around in awe of how Vegas like it was.

Mike and Brandon had created some strategies on the slots:

1. spend a dollar each time
2. if you're losing go to another machine
3. if you win play 3 more times and then go to another machine.

After about 20 minutes of browsing and lurking I went up to Mike and Brandon to see their progress. Mike had won about $43 dollars. He told me "dude.. let's cash in." He wen to the bank teller, traded the chips and received the $43. We hopped into his car and went home

Brandon at the first try puts the tape on the deck. The deck receives and plays the WOODS song "Holes".

"Downtown
You seem different don't forget my face
Wrapped around someone different in a different place"

And those first few lines was the drive home.

We walked into Denny's, got seated, looked at the menu and waited for our waiter. The waiter, on his 50's, came up to us with a notepad and a stale face introduces himself.

"Hello, I'm Todd. I will be your waiter today. What can I start you off with?"

That $6 dollar pancakes were the best pancakes I ate.