This pack of que balls are the pinche roughnecks of United rig #30. With the casino down the road the gambling bug has set in. They started off with washers last week and now Martinez has lost $150 playing whore house games with his workmates. Of course I joined in and,of course, I lost $9.
"Thanks for the $9!", Pedro said in broken English.
I hit the casino yesterday too and lost $20. I was redeemed on Party Poker though by winning $64, so I'm a winner. Then again, I lost my check card today and had to cancel it. I call it a push.
With the absence of drugs and alcohol I've taken up this new vice of gambling and I think it's the worst of the three. I had a rich friend in Junior High School. He used to brag on how is dad would take private jets to Vegas for blackjack tournaments. I would ride my bike over to his house and see his old man shooting hoops. I'd join in and it wasn't too long before it started.
"OK, $1, one-on-one, you and me.", he would say.
Not having a dollar, I'd agree and lose. Then he would decide that we would go double or nothing. Anyway, he was hauled off to federal pound-you-in-the-ass prison for embezzling $4.5 million. His investment banking business had screwed various members of the community out of their hard earned cash. This included the owners of the local tractor dealership who were the wealthiest folks in town. If that doesn't define the town I lived in, I don't know what would.
He tried to appeal because the money simply could not be traced. Eventually it would be reviled that all that cash went from the people's pockets straight to the blackjack table.
He's out now and living in a makeshift apartment in the back of his brother's dentist office. I haven't seen or heard from my friend much since the incident. Luckily his grandparents on his mom's side own the company that contracted to build Interstate 10 through Texas. I hear my friend owns a oil company now. What does a guy with a history major know about the oil business? Whatever, good for him I guess. I bet he doesn't get to play cards with the roughnecks though.
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