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Mirage

Stan Hollingworth

    “What a treat to spend a few days in Las Vegas again,” Lois exclaimed, sipping champagne and opening the dinner menu.
    “Like old times,” Johnny said, remembering trips in the sixties when he and Lois traveled on the classy Streamliner, stayed in the old Sands Hotel, and always managed to see Sinatra or Martin.
    Waiting for grandchildren, Johnny and Lois lived in a working class Omaha suburb and doted on two purebred Cocker Spaniels, Princess and Rosy.

    After a prime rib dinner, they walked through the lavish interior of the Mirage Hotel. Johnny’s western boots clapped rhythmically on the tile floor.
    “This is real luxury,” Lois said with a gleam in her eye. Her hair, tinted to hide the gray, was parted on one side and shoulder length.
    “Let’s see if we brought any luck with us,” Johnny suggested as they entered the casino. Lois found a slot machine and Johnny joined the action at a crap table. When he was handed the dice, he threw a seven, another seven, and an eleven on his first three rolls.
    “Hey, dude, what’s your name?” shouted an aggressive, inebriated young man wearing a college-monogrammed sweatshirt.
    Hesitantly, Johnny gave his name.
    Draping his arm over Johnny’s shoulders, the young man introduced himself as Roger. “We’re betting with you, Johnny,” he said, gesturing to a group of his buddies and a mass of chips on the pass line. In a pounding rhythm, the group chanted, “John-ny, John-ny”.
    Johnny wanted to walk away but it was unethical to give up the dice during a winning streak. With a smooth motion, he bounced the red cubes off the far end of the table and the stickman called out, “Seven”. The students cheered and high-fived with such enthusiasm they drew attention from surrounding tables.
    “One more time and we’re out of here,” Roger yelled. He and his friends let their winnings ride.
    Johnny, feeling like a dancing bear, tossed again and the first die came up six and the second five. The students lost all control, regaining composure just long enough to collect their winnings. In all the drama, Johnny forgot to place bets and didn’t win a dime for his exceptional run of luck.
    After throwing snake eyes on the next roll and losing the dice, Johnny gladly left the crap table. Finding an open chair in a blackjack game, he placed a five dollar chip in the betting rectangle.
    “I’m sorry, sir, there’s a fifty dollar minimum,” the stoic dealer said. Johnny picked up his chip and sulked away. “I’ll be damned if I’ll bet fifty dollars a hand,” he mumbled.
    Unfamiliar with the current group of entertainers, Johnny took the recommendation of the deskman and purchased expensive tickets to a stand-up comedian. The mostly younger crowd laughed continuously but the leading edge, risqué humor failed to gain traction with Johnny and Lois. Fifteen minutes into the performance, they walked out.
    “I didn’t find that screwball funny at all,” Johnny said as they waited for the elevator.
    “Sure wasn’t Jack Benny,” Lois added.
    Tired after a long day that included a crowded two-stop flight, Johnny had just nodded off when Lois nudged him. “It’s cold in here,” she complained. Johnny tried to adjust the air conditioning but the blower wouldn’t turn off.
    “I can’t work this damn thing,” he said and called the desk. A courteous but insistent young female voice gave Johnny specific instructions. With Lois wrapped in blankets, he fiddled unsuccessfully with the controls. Just as he picked up the phone to dial the desk again, the blower unexplainably turned off.
    The next morning, Johnny’s stomach was acting up because of horseradish sauce on the prime rib and the cold room had made Lois’s throat scratchy. A group of children fought and giggled at an adjoining table in the busy breakfast restaurant.
    “We used to come to Vegas to get away from kids,” Johnny whispered.
    “It’s just not the same,” Lois said. “You don’t even have to pull a handle on the slot machines.”
    They sat quietly for a few minutes.
    “This is the first time we’ve left the dogs for more than a day,” Lois commented.
    “Rosy will make out all right in the kennel but I don’t now about Princess,” Johnny added.
    The waitress offered coffee refills but Lois placed her palm over the cup and Johnny shook his head.
    “I think we better change our flight and leave today,” Lois said.
    Johnny had been thinking the same thing but was hesitant to suggest it.
    That evening, Johnny and Lois wheeled their luggage across the lobby. Oblivious to the salt water aquarium and the waterfalls and exotic plants that had so intrigued them when they arrived, they waited impatiently for an airport shuttle.

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