Wednesday, December 01, 2004


cut to 8 hours later. Sitting at a black jack table at the Excalibur. Or were they sitting? Wait, ok, yeah. They were fucked up, major leagues. But in a good way. Trippin. And not like a bad shebang style either, all-good central.

Eddie had brought some green windowpane with him. they’d popped them maybe 3 hours ago, so they were just riding. Not even halfway done, but deep into the forest.

The dealer had long ago turned into some kind of like wolf but not a wolf type something or other for Ben. The cards were like having conversations with each other, it was some monumental shit.

The weird thing was they were all three of them at the time on a phat winning streak.

It was the three of them, a middle aged irish lady, and this old timer pimp ass like Polynesian type dude. From Hawaii, sweetened by the sun.

Old timer’s name was Jimmy. And he was a talker, heh funny thing about the oldsters they’d bumped into on this trip. Whoah trip.

Yah jimmy right from the start of sitting down had brought the good joojie. Strait up like yappin at em from the get go, hollerin at everybody, like getting an us versus them mentality but in a jovial way, fat tippin the dealer(s) and just bringin a good kine ruckus out the gate.

So yeah, amazingly enough, that was prolly why the were all three up big time. Jimmy was nonstop talking and sayin like oh we’re gonna bust her this time, getting celebrations goin, like “easy vern” to this little feller that had hung out for a while, it was all Jupiter.

Ben would never ever ever in a million years forget jimmy.

“hey yo punk ass homeslice, we’re outtie like kirk goudie.” It was Donaldo.

Don a little while ago had started really creepin Ben’s shit out, like in the major league style. Wait, why was everything major league style, it was like some shit was minors, but the skittishness of his medulla to be on like some trusting like shit with Don had totally evaporated into the nether.

But then he saw that Eddie was getting up too, they were both settling up with Annika, the Welsh former airline stewardess with a mild case of adult acne strait rippin up the scene. Wait, what? Oh yeah, so Eddie was going too, and then Ben knew he just had to protect Eddie from Don.

I mean, shit, how would Eddie, who, although being the biggest partier and just like straight krunked out member of the velocity posse, still when it came to downright devious type shit would not even hold a candle in the same ballpark with Donaldo.

Donaldo, with the what the fuck name from Jacksonville. Yah, that was it, shit, he couldn’t lose these guys, they were his partners up in the scriddle, and the acid, the acid, the, what the fuck?

“wait up guys. Thanks Annika.” He dropped her a 10 spot, gathered up all his chips, shit he hadn’t been keeping count for a while, but it felt bigger than before, and before he’d been up like $200. nice. Wait, was it real?

He had no time to evaluate the situation. Don & Eddie were already walking away, off into the densifying crowd. If he lost them now, madness that way went. Or at best massive confusion.

Ben left one look for Jimmy, the old timer from Hawaii, who’d regaled them with stories of fishing in the atolls of Palau, way out past Guam in the Pacific, how his father’s cousin had hooked him up with a job at a bread mill. And then the rise to glory in, um, what?

“Aloha, Jimmy, peace out.”

“Take care, little buddie, spread the peace and pass the ammo if necessary,” and then he was back to the game, “let’s go Vinnie, you know we can bankroll the place this time, c’mon she’s bout to burst,”

ah good ol’ Jimmy.

Oh shit. Where were his homeboys? He spocked them turning round the corner by the roulette table. Grabbing his jack and coke and flashing a peace sign, he started running after them.