Casino Luck

Be careful what you wish for.

Diving is not that scary, but where you land might be. One hot day in Curacao I got tired of walking the streets of Punda --the district--that decided to have a look in the casino if for nothing else, at least for the air conditioning. I really hoped they would finally let me in this time around as I was wearing sneakers and not hippie sandals. And they did. " YEhhhhhaaahh!!!

"Those days Caribbean casinos gave you drinks on the house until you started to walk on four. Only then, they rescinded the privilege. So I'm in, already getting blasted and I got all this money with me. Even the devil should be worried.

The roulette table looked good and the croupier was a gorgeous brunette that believe it or not, winked at me as I was just standing there like an idiot but trying to look cool. Everything else lost any appeal it might've had and my legs couldn't take me there any faster. I still can't believe this amazing amazon just winked at me. Of course, all sort of scenarios occurred inside my head and (incredibly), all had to do with passionate love making in all kinds of settings. Sexually charged daydreaming. "Sir, sir; last call for placing your bets" she said in a quiet inviting tone . Who was I to say no, right? So, I dove to impress her and purely out of drunken courage, I placed ALL my chips, worth $10K fully on Red. Of course I'd pick red. That was my silent answer to her wink. Never felt like Paul Newman before, but I did that day. Actually, come to think of it, some of that mood still remains. The bowl spinned and the ball bounced a thousand times and yet, not even a glimpse from her on my direction. Not sure who was more nervous, me, her or everybody else around that table. I'm so drunk that I pretended not to care, but was slightly unhinged inside. I won't lie. The precise moment she raised her head and looked at me with those unbelievably piercing blue eyes, the smallest plastic little ball in the world found its home.... ON THE RED SLOT!!!!...."Congratulations, sir", she said with a smile that complimented the rest of her biology. And repeated it, "Congratulations!" I walked out of the place with $20K big ones being too wasted to continue and much to the chagrin of the gorillas who ran the joint. I dove with the inspiration from a Dove. Some days don't get much better than that...

But the days that followed brought me to a world I didn't know existed. And once you step inside that world, you become an integral part of it. Not in a million years I would've imagined what was ahead.

End of Part 1