Chapter 105: Taking Chances

Wednesday, June 12, 1985

Today was an ‘at sea’ day. Jas and I started off with breakfast in the dining room. At most, half of the tables were in use. I imagined Angie and Paige weren’t the only ones to stay up late. Not only that, but I’m sure a lot of people were hung over.

Their ‘do not disturb’ sign had been out when we went by, and a light knock went unanswered. I wasn’t expecting to see them for a while.

Over breakfast, we flipped through the little newsletter the ship published. The highlight for Jas (and therefore for me) was a talk the cruise director was giving in the auditorium. She was speaking twice, at seven and nine, to allow people from either dinner to attend. Besides, the auditorium only held about three hundred people, so two groups made sense.

The topics included ‘fun facts about cruising,’ ‘destination information,’ ‘things to do on board,’ ‘how to maximize your fun,’ and so forth. It really did seem interesting, if likely slightly redundant for me.

We were also going to a talk about San Juan at four-thirty this afternoon. It would give us enough time to get back to the room and change for dinner.

Over the course of the next few hours, we explored the ship more, plus spending time just watching the ocean go by. One thing quickly became clear: there were far more people in their 30s and 40s (and even 50s) than in their teens. There were some honeymooners in their 20s, at least.

Not that we were really concerned with meeting people our age — we had ample opportunity to do that — but it was interesting. Unsurprising, but interesting.

When we went back to our cabin before lunch, Angie had shoved a note under the door. It said, ‘Meet you for lunch at one in the grill?’

That sounded good for us, so I shoved a note saying ‘See you at one!’ under their door.

They turned up a few minutes after we got to the grill. Paige was yawning, and Angie looked tired.

“When did you go to bed?” Jas said, chuckling a bit.

“Five?” Angie said.

“Five,” Paige said, nodding.

“Thirty,” Angie said.

“Forty-five,” Paige said, with a bit of a giggle.

“Impressive!” Jas said, raising an eyebrow.

“Coffee!” Angie and Paige said together.

We settled in, ordering burgers and fries, plus coffee for them and tea for us.

“On the plus side,” Angie said, yawning, “The gambling budget is good.”

Jas looked a bit confused, and said, “Huh? I thought it was good last night. Do you mean you had enough fun for your $100?”

Paige giggled, and said, “No, it’s ... we paid back two-thirds of our gambling budget. We could still lose, but our maximum loss is much smaller.”

Jas blinked, and said, “Seriously?”

“Seriously!” Paige said, giggling. “We’re up ... um...”

“Nine hundred, right now,” Angie said. “It’s all in the safe.”

Jas shook her head, looking amazed.

“Counting cards?” I said.

“Yeah,” Angie said. “We did better than predicted. Not a lot better, but it’s good.”

“I couldn’t count a damn thing right now,” Paige said. “Too tired! We’ll do better tonight. I mean, better about sleep.”

“Much better!” Angie said, hugging her. “We have to. I could count, but my attention span would be lousy.”

“Caffeine, food, and being awake will help,” Paige said, nodding. “Just getting out of the smoke helped, though the nicotine fumes might have kept us awake.”

“Not sure it works that way,” Angie said. “Maybe?”

“No one bugged you about winning?” I said. “I knew someone who was a near-professional-level card counter, and she had some interesting stories.”

“No one so far,” Angie said. “I won’t be surprised if it happens.”

“They can’t break our legs or throw us off the ship,” Paige said. “Worst they could do is ban us from the casino.”

“And forbid us from sailing with them again,” Angie added. “But they won’t.”

“Why?” Jas said. “If you’re winning that much?”

“We had four other people at each table,” Angie said. “They all lost, and they lost quite a bit more than we won. We’re casino catnip — two young women having a blast, smiling a lot, and tossing money around. People love happy, cute girls and gamblers love seeing other people win. It draws out money. We made them more money than we took. Take us out of the picture and I think half of those older guys would’ve gone to bed.”

“Honestly ... a little creepy,” Paige said, giggling. “I’m glad I can’t read minds! But, still, you know, they were pretty nice. Just ... well, someone thirty years older than me looking at me like that is ... yeah.”

“Nominally, Steve is over thirty years older than you,” Jas said, grinning.

“Special case!” Paige said, giggling more. “Very special case!”

“Angie’s, what ... almost fifteen years older than you?” Jas said, sticking her tongue out.

“My birthday is last. Therefore, I am the youngest,” Angie said, sticking hers out, too.

Everyone laughed at that.

“Anyway, we’re going to bed early tonight,” Angie said. “Too sleepy, and we want to really see San Juan, not just sleepwalk through it.”

“But this afternoon we’ll play a bit. Well, if the caffeine kicks in, anyway,” Paige said.

“We want to go to that tour guide talk tonight in the auditorium,” Jas said.

“And the San Juan talk at four-thirty,” I said.

“We’re up for both of those,” Angie said. “Even if we play, it’ll be ... like ... an hour or two.”

“Four hours in a row is too many,” Paige said, rolling her eyes. “I swear I broke my brain! We had to stop for an hour at one to shake off the cobwebs, but we were too wired to go to bed, so we went back for ‘just a bit,’ and ... yeah.”

“When you’re on a roll, you’re on a roll,” Angie said.

“Remember to keep receipts,” I said. “That’s all taxable, and you want everything completely above board.”

“They told us that, actually,” Angie said. “The cruise line will send stuff to the IRS and us. We need it to match. But, yeah, we need receipts just in case.”

“Sucks!” Jas said.

Ang said, “For us, it matters who wins. I’m already paying a ridiculous amount of gambling tax, whereas Paige will have so little income that anything she wins here won’t be taxed at all.”

“You’re already raking in the bucks,” I said. “If you keep going at that rate, you might pay for the whole trip.”

Angie and Paige looked at each other.

“I ... hadn’t added it up,” Angie said. By itself, that told me how tired she’d gotten.

“Holy cow!” Paige said.

“Next stop: paying for Europe!” Angie said, grinning.

“We can’t tell Mom and Dad the trip is financed by blackjack,” I said.

“Party pooper!” Paige said.

“I didn’t say we couldn’t do it,” I said. “Just ... we have to call it an ‘unexpected dividend’ or the like.”

“Better!” Paige said.

Angie said, “It would be better than saying Villanova paid for the whole thing.”

She had a point there. We all agreed about that.

After lunch, Jas decided she wanted to go out sunbathing for a bit. As mentioned, that’s not my favorite activity by itself. Hanging out with Jas while she was wearing a bikini, though? Definitely a favorite!

Things went ... well ... in an unexpected direction. It wasn’t until we got up to the Verandah deck (the highest regular deck) that Jas noticed stairs up to the ‘Sports Deck’. Those stairs had an ‘adults only’ sign.

“Why is that adults only?” Jas said.

“Europeans,” I said, chuckling.

Jas’s eyes got big.

“Oh!” she said, giggling. “I see!”

“Not much from down here,” I said.

“Which is why we’re going up there,” she said, grinning. “I am French, after all!”

At that point, I remembered what Jas had said about beaches long, long ago. I just shrugged and headed up the stairs, right behind her.

There was no one up there when we got there. I’m not sure if that was good or bad, really.

Jas peeled off her top and that was that.

She giggled as she was doing it, saying, “The last time I did this, I was only twelve. So ... it’s a bit different. Not a lot, considering ... well...”

She shook her chest and said, “Not a lot!”

I chuckled.

“They’re lovely, and that’s really all that matters.”

She hugged me — which is different, topless — and said, “One of the many, many, oh so many reasons I love you.”

We laid back in a couple of loungers, and Jas asked, “Any objections to raising the kids to see this as normal?”

“None,” I said. “You’ll freak out Mom and Dad, but ... eh.”

“Good! ‘Cuz ... I think it is normal.”

“I’ll get used to it quickly. And, I mean, around others. I’m quite used to yours, in all of the best ways.”

She giggled a bit.

“I have an aunt and uncle — and a couple of cousins — on the west coast of France. That’s where we were when I was on the beach at twelve. It was hilariously appropriate.”

“Oh?” I said.

“The city is named Brest.”

I chuckled.

“I’ve actually heard of Brest. Cool!”

“We have to visit.”

“We do!”

“But not this summer,” she said, grinning.

“Yes, not this summer.”

“Soon enough.”

“Definitely!”

Since the answer to when was totally tied up in when I popped the question, that’s the best we could do. Still, it was the right call, all around.

We hung out and talked for an hour or so.

Two brave couples joined us before we left, both considerably older. We didn’t look at them much. I don’t think they looked at us much either.

The rest of the day was fairly quiet for us. Angie and Paige joined us for the San Juan talk, scooting in at the last minute with big smiles. The talk was fairly informative and gave us some ideas. We planned to go to the historic area and look around. It was reputed to be pretty safe, at least during the daytime, and we weren’t as helpless as we looked.

That, and place some phone calls.

After the talk, they confirmed they’d gone up another $500. Their gambling budget was now ‘paid for’ even if they kept gambling but lost everything they bet from here on. For here on, they were starting to nibble away at the trip’s cost. If they did no worse than break even from here on out, the trip was close to paid for now.

Mind you: blackjack is an interesting game. The house percentage is low. A good counter can flip the odds but, as Angie said, one counter and four regular gamblers at a table will make the house money. They will make it slightly slower than they would with five regular gamblers, all things being equal, but they’ll still make money.

On the other hand, the story I told over dinner added some context. One of Dad’s first-life friends (one I thought he hadn’t met yet) was a pretty accomplished gambler when not running his print shop. He had a deal with a Vegas casino — one they’d proposed. Anytime he wanted, he called them and said he wanted to come out. They flew him out, put him up (in a suite), and comped the whole thing including meals and drinks. All he had to do was gamble.

On the average trip, he came back with ten or twenty thousand more than he’d brought with him. In his judgment, though, the casino had made four or five times that from the other people who’d been inspired to bet high because of the ‘whale’ throwing money around.

The whole thing could work fine for everyone. The key was to win at a reasonable pace and look like you’re having a blast doing it. Live large, laugh a lot, and smile often. It’s probably easier if you’re a pretty girl, but Dad’s friend was a heavyset fifty-year-old and it worked for him.

On the other hand, an accomplished counter can sometimes see the cards as so favorable they’re tempted to greatly increase (‘jump’) their bet. The counter I knew in my first life had done that, won about ten thousand over two hands, and then spent several hours in a back room with large men looking ominously at her. She’d left perfectly intact, and with her money, but had been ‘asked politely’ never to return to that casino.

In Vegas, that’s not a big deal. There’s always another casino. On a cruise ship, it might be a problem.