Of all the slot machines in the casino, she walks to the one next to mine.

What was a nice guy like me doing in a casino? My inquiring readers might want to know.

Well, it so happened that every Desi in California seemed to have chosen the week before Christmas to rush to India. Consequently, I had four days to kill before I could board my plane. A colleague suggested to me that I spend those four days in Las Vegas.

I did not think much of the idea. I did not relish the prospect of gambling. (Especially as I had no money to gamble away in the first place.) Said colleague pointed out that one does not go to Las Vegas only for the gambling. One could also just see the glitz and glamour of the place. I demurred, saying that glitz put me off. I expressed the opinion that though I had no particular quarrel with materialism, I truly felt at home in the lap of Nature. I further stated a desire to see snow and try my hands at skiing, as I had never seen Nature in that particular garb before. The colleague sighed and recommended that I make a trip to Reno-Tahoe, where I could see Nature clad in snow and ski down her lap to my heart’s content. However, he was most insistent that I spend atleast one night in Reno, which, being in the state of Nevada, allowed gambling. I found that there were limits to my power to resist peer pressure.

So it came to pass that I was sitting at a slot machine in Harrah’s gambling away one cent at a time, wondering why it was taking so long for me to run through the five dollar limit I had set for myself, watching waitresses in low-cut blouses (to display 30% of their breasts seems to be the industry norm) and mini skirts serve free booze to compulsive gamblers, taking grim satisfaction in the fact that I was right in my prediction that the glitz would fail to lure me, when, as I have already mentioned, she walked in and sat at the slot machine next to mine.

“Did you win anything?” She asked me.

“Not much”. I replied.

“I lost a lot” said she.

“How much did you lose?” I was obliged to ask.

She showed me two fingers of her hand.

“Two dollars?” I blurted out, and even as I did, I realised that my utter stupidity had prevented me from looking like an ignoramus.
I cannot guess an American’s class from her dress and demeanour. I had no idea two of how much would be “too much” for an American of her economic status. If I had guessed “twenty?” or “two hundred?” and it turned out to be small change for her, it would mark me out as a cheapskate. If I had guessed “two thousand?” and it turned out to be too much, then she would have thought that I was putting on an air or was some kind of eccentric, and what was I doing in a one-cent slot machine anyway? (Observant readers might have noticed that I had been afflicted with the malady that strikes all men – caring what a woman they have never seen in their lives would think of them)

“Two dollars?” on the other hand, was perfect. Nobody could be serious about two dollars. She could only conclude that I was indulging in mockery.

She gave me an irritated look and said “Two hundred”.

“Oh!” I said. “I am sorry”

“Where’s your wife” was the rather unexpected next question.

“I am not married.” I replied.

“Good!” was the even more unexpected response from her.

“Marriage is for losers” I said.

“No I mean, we could go around together and enjoy ourselves”

This proposition of course raised more questions than it answered. Most of my readers have not seen me, so let me assure them that I am not strikingly handsome. No amount of hormones rushing down my various glands could sustain the illusion that a woman whom I had never seen before would find me attractive. So naturally, I wished to know wherefore this proposition came. I stayed silent.

“Come on! It is just as friends! You don’t do these things?”

I was just about to open my mouth to deliver a polite refusal, when she said:

“I’m out of money. Can you give me some money?”

The penny dropped.

As I have mentioned, I did not enjoy gambling. I can see that some people enjoy it – in fact I wouldn’t mind it if I were doing it with a group of friends. The camaraderie would make this otherwise pointless pleasure enjoyable.
I had expected that that is the way most people would be playing. But I found that most people were just sitting there alone. The sight of a bunch of mindless zombies pressing the same button again and again (which is what most of them were doing) had spooked me out.

In fact, on that same night, I saw a woman collapsed by a slot machine, presumably because she had lost more than she could afford.

Also, I was shocked, shocked to find that just outside the casinos were shops offering to pawn your jewellery.

A less rational man than I would probably have ignored the evidence and gone ahead with the surmise that the lady in question had fallen for his irresistable good looks. I, unfortunately could not do that. I had to conclude that she was on the lookout for money to feed her gambling problem. Naturally, safeguarding the meagre contents of my wallet had to take priority.

“I don’t have much money” I stonewalled.

“How much do you have?” she persisted.

“Not much”, I continued to stonewall.

“Get it out of an ATM… You must have something” she continued to persist.

“…”

“Don’t you have forty dollars? I need it to pay my hotel bill”

Finally, I could think of a response “Why do you need a hotel? I can put you up for tonight”

That response would have either a) Got me lucky or b) Got me into trouble or c) Both or d) Got rid of her.

Unfortunately, we will never know. I never actually delivered the response. I just thought of it. At any rate, objective (d) was soon achieved as she said “I’ll find someone who can give me money” and left my side.

Ah well…

It could have been the start of a beautiful friendship…

(Question for readers: Can you tell which movie I watched recently?)