Black 26

The cool wind blows through the truck window with the lights shining through like a carnival in a dark alley. The light is glistening off my 45, and my pen and note pad sitting beside me with my feelings of farewell and unhappiness. But before I say the big F-U, I say let fate ride, with a chance to gain 38 times more than me and the ex saved. One number and one number alone, will decide my fate.  

Apparently, ask any casino dealer, and they will tell you black 26 on the Roulette Wheel is the most common hit. Well, with my luck, I’m always one step late, one generation late, or one number late. I give new meaning to a day late and a dollar short. Unfortunately, this started when I was about 3. I would get in line for an ice cream, and the preschool would run out. Or the time when I was 16 and I hit the game winner of the state championship only to have it waved off by less than 1/10th of a second. I could go on, but the last straw was when I was finally promoted to oversee the largest division of the company, only to have the company dissolve one month later. I had not even started my new position. Oh! Let us not forget about the cheating whore of 10 years who was now dating my boss’s secretary. 

Some say this is where Hank Williams Sr. had his final meal, and I can believe it because this town is like death row. But there is new life!

So, here I sit in front of a roulette wheel, but I have no fucking clue what I’m doing. I do know if you hit it on one number, abracadabra, you are 38 times richer. However, the only thing I have going for me is the last one thousand dollars in my pocket, a pack of smokes, and a full flask with my initials.

So, what better way to get back at my ex-wife who left me for another woman right after I lost my job, than to go bet our miserable savings. The crazy thing, I asked her why she left, and she said, “I was always one inch shorter than she liked.” What a fucking whore! So, the best and most reasonable thing to do, I will take the last of our one thousand dollars, and I will bet it all on a single roulette number.

Five minutes into watching, this old man could see that I was desperately trying to figure out a strategy to wiggle my way in to play this gold mine. He looks up, and he says, “don’t do it son.” I ask the old man if it was that obvious of my ignorance, and he said, “it is obvious, you had a bowl of stupid this morning.” I let him know that I had a bottle of whiskey, and a breath mint this morning for breakfast. So, he shook his head, and said “let me give you a little advice. If you are going for it, go black 26! He pointed up at the TV board that shows the last 50 hits, and sure enough, black 26 had hit 5 times, and that was 10 percent! I thought damn, that would be 38K. So, fuck it! I watch for a minute, start calculating the numbers that are being played to see if I can find a pattern. Sure enough, a whiskey pattern started to show up in my clouded mind. It was 11 PM, and I was feeling just about right. So, I yell out black 26! Slam my 1K of chips down on BLACK 26! Low and behold, a strong storm was moving through the area about the time I scream my excitement out, and all play in the casino stops abruptly! Naturally, I say “you got to be fucking kidding me!”

Due to the lights being out I went deeper into the casino where I could see, and there was the old man. We nodded at one another, and he said, “what happen, your wife leaves you for another man?” I said, “No! It was for another woman.” So, he laughed, and I got pissed. But I guess I started laughing to. Nevertheless, I started to tell him about all my issues, and we had a few whiskey sours, and by this time the power was on. Nevertheless, we were having a good time talking. Like words flowing out of our mouth, the drinks started to flow out of our bladders. One would go, and then the other to the bathroom. But the last time the old man got up, he said, “I own a business and I need a regional director. It is a rather large outfit, and I could use a good man like you.” I was excited, and I didn’t even know what the job was, but he was my best friend and only friend at this moment. I would have not cared if he was talking about me being over all the workers at the bus stop. I would have done anything for my new best friend.

Next thing I hear is screaming, and a crowd of people shouting if there was a doctor in the house. I go over to see what was going on, and it was my new best friend. He was on the ground, and I didn’t know even know his name. One of the ladies saw that we were talking and asked me if that was my dad. I told her we just met, and that he was nice. We were just talking. She then went on to say, “so, you don’t know who he is?” I shake my head no, and she says, “that is Mr. Lacey, and he is the owner of Bristol Motor Speedway.” By this time, the EMTs were trying to revive him, but he was obviously not responding to their efforts. People in the background are crying like they have known him for years, but this was my new best friend. How has everyone known him for years. Anyway, he has died in front of me, and he wanted me to be the new regional director of Bristol Motor Speedway. This would have been the greatest job ever. But, again, here I sit with my dick in my hand, and 1K dollars. I look over, and there it is, the roulette screen showing the numbers. Sure enough, there is 10% black 26 on the board. I think, ah fuck it! I go over, and about the time I holler black 26 and slam my 1K down, I remember the old man giving me this advice. “Son, you are always coming up short because you expect one better.” This stopped me on my tracks, and I change my bet to RED 25! I slide my chips over one. Dealer yells no more bets! I think, this is the moment of truth. The wheel spends like a top, and I feel whiskey confident. At this moment, I am conquering the beast! The wheel slows and the ball starts popping on the wheel as to say, “no worries, I got you, and we are going to show the world that this is your moment.” The ball pops one last time into its final resting place, and well, fuck! It is Black 26!

I sat and I was just deflated, and felt that last bit of life fall out of me, I was dead on the final resting spot of black 26.

The next day, I wake up around noon and turn on local TV station, WCYB, and there he was, the old man had went on to his final resting spot in that speedway up in the sky, and here I sit with my black dog Lacey in my apartment number 26 wondering if that number will haunt me for the rest of my short life.