Chapter 2: Friday - Hop on the Bus

(Friday early afternoon)

"Do we have everyone?" Jim Keegan asked, turning around to see if he could account for the entire party.

A useless wave of "I'm here"s flooded over his ears.

"Okay, okay," he said holding up his hands. "I'm just going to get confused here unless we do this sensibly. Hush, hush. Everyone quiet." He counted off one finger. "First, there's my family. My loving wife Denise?"

"I'm here, honey." Denise had dark, shoulder-length hair, large beautiful brown eyes and kept her curvaceous figure with weekly aerobics. Oh, yeah, and C-cups.

"My daughter and incisive political leader Kim?"

The pretty light brown-haired girl had a sharp mind hidden behind large, innocent-looking eyes and had a smile that could light up a room. "I'm here, Daddy. But I haven't been elected president yet. I need to graduate college first."

"And my brilliant son Bobby?"

"Here, Dad." Eighteen, fit, dark brown hair. Religious, moral, a gentleman. Oh yeah, can you believe a virgin?

He counted off a second finger. "Then there's the party accompanying me. My secretary and right-hand person, Annie?"

"I'm here, Jim." Wow. Brownish blonde hair, pert C-cups and a mischievous smile.

He counted off a third finger. "Then there's Kim's accompaniment. That would be her friend and dorm roommate, Michelle?"

"I'm here, Mr Keegan." Blonde hair to her waist, remarkably thin for her D-cups.

He counted off a fourth finger. "Bobby's accompaniment. That would be his girlfriend Jessica?"

"Here, Mr Keegan," she answered, squeezing Bobby's hand. Brown hair to her shoulder blades and that clean, freshly-scrubbed look to her face. Other girls hated her for it. Her A-cups gave them a sense of justice to the universe (yes, there is a fair God) and a place to vent their jealousy.

"Good. And her mother, Tina?"

"Present and accounted for, Jim," the pretty strawberry blonde mother smiled. If her daughter were an "8", she would be an "11". Despite her light hair, her eyelashes and eyebrows were dark, making her pretty eyes look naturally lined.

"Good." He counted out his fifth finger, his thumb. "Finally, there's our educational accompaniment. That would be Mrs Pittman?"

"I'm here, Mr Keegan."

He looked at her. "And you're doing all right?"

Patricia Pittman laid her hands on her pregnant belly. "We're both doing just fine. Thanks." Thick brown hair and B-cups turned C-cups, nearly D-cups.

"Good. And finally, our other educational accompaniment, young Mrs McCloud."

"Here, Mr Keegan," she smiled brightly. Blonde hair, sunny smile, perky disposition. Too perky.

"Good! That's all of us. Shall we board the plane, then, folks?"

Denise smiled tolerantly. There was a much quicker way to account for everyone in the group -- just counting from one to ten, for instance -- but her husband loved to put on his "Let's say I'm from Missouri" persona. After pulling off the organizing of this whole trip, though, dealing with all the bureaucracy and scheduling annoyances, he had earned the right to pose in the limelight a little.

Jim led them to the lady at the podium, where everyone presented their tickets for her inspection, then they boarded the plane. Jim had gotten their seats together in a group: the two teachers and Tina Davison sat in one row; Bobby with his girlfriend Jessica and sister Kim in another row; Denise, Jim's secretary Annie and Jessica's roommate Michelle in a third row; and Jim like a gentleman had volunteered to be odd one out and sit behind the rest of the group.

The seed that started this trip was Bobby getting sick with the stomach flu and missing his senior trip to Las Vegas. He had moped around until Denise and Jim decided to do a family trip as a make-up. Bobby was thrilled and, of course, invited his girlfriend and her parents, though her father had a business trip and was unable to make it. Kim had, of course, invited her dorm roommate. Jim's secretary Annie had never been to Vegas and practically invited herself. Then one of Bobby's teachers that had also caught the stomach flu that had been going around, Joan McCloud, had also practically invited herself and talked Mrs Pittman into coming despite her pregnancy.

So here they were, party of ten, bound for Las Vegas, excitement and adventure! They had arrangements at the Jewel of the Desert hotel. The Jewel maintained several pools of dolphins that high school classes would visit to learn about the marine mammals. Denise already knew that would be the most interesting part of the trip for her.

"This is going to be one HECK of a weekend!" Bobby prophetically declared cheerfully when they all got settled in their seats, and the others laughingly agreed with him. Little did they know...

While they waited for the rest of the passengers to board and for the engines to start up, Annie tapped Kim on the shoulder. "How are things going with you and Darren these days?" she asked.

"Oh, I'm not seeing him anymore, Annie."

"Really? You seemed like a pretty good match that night I met him."

"He... uhm..." she turned around and leaned back, dropping her voice to a whisper. "He got... weird. We went to the beach one day, and he was taking photos of me, and he kept trying to get me to take my top off and let him take a picture."

"Oh, my."

"He even got pushy about it. So I dropped him that very day. I don't need to put up with that kind of behavior."

"That IS rather coarse," her mother added to the conversation. "Kim and I talked, and if Kim is going to be a senator or even president one of these days, she certainly doesn't need lower-class people putting pressure on her to do degrading and compromising things like that."

"How did he react to that?" Annie asked.

"How else would he react?" Kim answered, "He apologized profusely and insisted that he really just wasn't himself that day. But if that kind of behavior is inside him... I mean, I know that all men are like that to some extent -- but if he can't even keep that under control, well, he just isn't for me."

"Good for you, girl," Annie said.

From her window seat, Kim's friend Michelle had been writing in her journal and asked, "How do you spell 'desert', as in 'Jewel of the Desert'? One 's' or two?"

"There's a memory trick," Kim answered. "Desserts will make you stressed."

Michelle smiled. "Oh, I get it. So it's one 's'."

"Mm-hmm."

The pilot started the engines, then proceeded through a twenty minute taxi through the queue until he could take off. Less than three hours later, they landed in the City of Gambling.

The Blarney Stone

(Friday early evening)

They unboarded the plane, then Jim led the group towards the Rent-a-Car booths. Bobby had taken Mrs Pittman's luggage and was carrying it for her while Jessica hung back with the two of them.

"What a gentleman," Jessica whispered to her boyfriend.

"He sure is," Mrs Pittman added. "You don't see a whole lot of that today."

"Well, I just don't think that a pregnant lady should have to carry her own bags."

"You need to hang onto this one, Jessica," Mrs Pittman told the younger girl.

"I already know that," she said.

Bobby just blushed.

"Oh, my! You look so near, dear!" an old woman walked up and began speaking to Mrs Pittman. "You must be eight months along."

"Yes, I am," Mrs Pittman sighed, knowing what was coming next.

The old woman's hand moved directly to Mrs Pittman's belly and rubbed around. "Oh, I just LOVE children!"

"I'm sure that you do. We need to be going, though. Our party is -- "

"Oh, surely, dear. I understand. Now you take care of that little one!"

"Yes, of course I will."

"I HATE that," Mrs Pittman sighed when the old lady was out of earshot.

"The attention?" Jessica asked, confused.

"The people groping my belly like it's a public accessible object instead of a part of MY body. My PERSONAL body. They think they can just touch and rub and-- and it's MY belly. She didn't even ASK before she did it. And then she orders me to do the obvious, 'You take care of that little one, ' like I might NOT?"

"I didn't realize-- "

"I'm sorry. I never realized how rude it was before I became pregnant myself. And the two of you are just receiving an earful because-- because I'm in a bad mood about it. I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Mrs Pittman," Bobby told her. "I can imagine what it would be like if everyone thought they had the right to come up and put their hands on your abdomen."

Mrs Pittman chuckled. "Like they think it's some good luck charm that they can come up and rub and then make a wish."

That set Jessica off to giggling, and soon all three were chuckling.

"What are you three so happy about?" Denise asked when they caught up with the rest of the party.

"Just laughing at the presumptuousness of people," Bobby told her.

"Well, your father has gotten the keys to two rental cars. Do you feel up to driving one?"

"Sure, mom."

"Then let's go find the jewel in this desert."

Make a New Plan

(Friday evening)

The two vehicles arrived at the hotel by 9:30 P.M., then the group ported their luggage to the welcome counter to check in. It went fairly quickly. Denise and Jim were in one room; the two schoolteachers in another; Jessica and her mother Tina in a third; Jim's secretary Annie and Kim's roommate Michelle in a fourth; and Bobby and Kim rounded out the party in the fifth.

Jim had initially planned to room with Bobby so there would be only same-sex pairings. However, everyone paired up naturally except for Annie and Denise then, and Denise did not relish spending the weekend with Annie. There was nothing specifically wrong with her -- Denise just did not find herself comfortable with the gabby young woman. Smalltalk always seemed forced between the two. So Denise had exerted her veto, rationalizing that Bobby and Kim were brother and sister and could share a room without sacrificing each other's privacy. And Michelle could see how she fared rooming with Annie.

The hotel clerk lowered his voice to Jim. "You guys might want to try the new games in the Avacado room. Our vendor just delivered them this morning, and folks have been saying how much fun they are to play. Lots of money going out there too." He leaned closer and dropped his voice to a loud whisper. "Insider's tip: that's how the casino and hotel make their money. They let folks win on the new games until they become popular, then lower the win-rate to something that makes money. So have at them while you can."

"Thanks for the tip," Jim told him.

Meanwhile, a bellhop came up and asked Kim if he could carry her bags.

"No, thanks. I have them just fine."

"Yes, ma'am," he muttered and wandered off.

"Creep," Kim mutterred to Michelle. "He's been ogling me since we walked in."

"I don't know. I think he's kind of cute."

"Not with manners like that. He was trying to look down my blouse when I bent over to pick up my bags."

"Well, let's go, group," Jim announced.

They wheeled their luggage to the elevators, then rode up to the eighth floor and got off. "Well," Jim said, yawning, "I'm off to bed. Any of you night owls can play some of the games down on the first floor, but I don't think I'm going to be staying awake much longer. Good night."

Bobby and Kim unlocked their door and entered while the others did likewise. Both unloaded their suitcases into the closets and drawers, then Bobby started brushing his teeth.

"I think I'm going to go down and try a couple games," Kim told him as he spit.

"I'm not. I'm too bushed. Don't be too late."

"I won't," she smiled, taking her keycard. She headed across the hall and knocked on Michelle's door.

"Come on! Let's go try some GAMBLING!" she said when Michelle opened the door.

"You got it, girl! Annie, would you like to come?"

"Yes! Definitely! I've never bet at a casino before!"

The three ladies headed downstairs, at first just walking around, dazzled by the lights and sounds.

"This is FUN!" Annie spoke up after a couple minutes. "I'm going to try my luck at this one for a while."

Kim watched while Michelle tried a different one, a table video game called "Fisherman's Delight." She pressed a button to start these little fish lighting up around the fisherman. Then she pressed the button again, and five fish settled into his net. Different wins were paid out depending on the patterns of the five caught fish.

After a couple minutes, Kim wanted to play herself, so wandered over to the next table, which was also "Fisherman's Delight."

She caught three guppies and two other fish the first time, which paid back a nickel token. Next she got two goldfish and assorted others, which paid back a dime. Soon, she was playing round after round, winning just enough to keep her going.

Don't Be Coy

(Friday late evening)

After an hour, Kim looked up and saw what time it was. She could scarcely believe she had been playing the game so long. There seemed to be a pattern to the fish lighting up before they entered the fisherman's net, and if she concentrated hard enough, she could tune into that. She was already ahead by almost ten dollars in tokens. Proud of herself, she tried to focus on those patterns and win some more.

The next time she looked up, it was 1:00 A.M. The bellhop that had tried to carry her bags was sitting beside her.

"Hi," she smiled tiredly but sweetly to him.

"Hi."

"My name is..."

He looked at her as she paused.

"My name is... ohmygod, I forgot my name!" she giggled.

"Was it Bambi?"

"Yeah, maybe that was it."

"Bambi the bimbo."

"No... no, I don't think it was that. I'm not... I'm not a bimbo. I'm a..."

"Are you sure? It's only a couple vowels' difference."

"No, I don't think I'm a bimbo... am I?"

"We'll check again later."

She noticed his hand was on her knee -- presumably it had been there quite some time. But should it be there? Was it... appropriate?

"You keep playing, Bambi bimbo. Look: you're only ahead by thirteen dollars. All the other girls are always much further ahead by this time. You need to try harder."

Kim went back to the game, redoubling her efforts at concentrating and tuning into the patterns. She didn't want all the other girls to beat her.

Bobby woke from a dream where Jessica had fallen asleep on the couch while visitting his house. He had been reaching out to feel her breast through her blouse and bra, but had gotten too excited and woken himself up. He pressed the button to light his watch -- 1:45 -- then he rolled over to make sure that Kim had gotten back safely from her foray downstairs.

But she wasn't in her bed.

"Kim?" He got up and checked the bathroom, but she wasn't there either.

This wasn't like her. To be excited about Vegas and go try a slot machine from 10:30 to 11:00 was one thing. To still be out after 1:00 was another thing entirely.

He pulled on a pair of pants and a shirt, then headed downstairs to make sure she was okay.

There were still quite a few people up. Vegas, "the City That Never Sleeps." Remembering what that hotel employee had whispered earlier, he walked up the hall, following the signs to the Avacado Room. Hopefully, Kim had done the same, and time had just gotten away from her.