Chapter 14

Christmas was just around the corner. We'd taken a several week hiatus from Waco ... or any travel, for that matter ... while exams were close upon us. I wasn't worried. Neither was Jackie for that matter. We'd done all our work and I was certain I'd be exempt from the exams and I just knew Jackie would also be. Jackie's name was there when the list came out, but mine was omitted. I just had to know why, so I made a beeline for the Principal McGee's office. Ms. Blanche Hodel is her secretary, and what a ditz she is. I asked why I wasn't on the exempt list, and she had no idea what I was talking about. I believe that she must have had a head injury as a child, and Principal McGee just hired her because she felt sorry for the girl.

I asked if I could talk to Principal McGee, but was told she was in meetings with the superintendent at the district office. I'd have to wait until the afternoon. I left the office dejected. I happened upon Gary Sewell picking on a freshman, part of the Geek squad, as I walked toward Mr. Robinson's class.

"Leave the kid alone, Sewell," I demanded, "Pick on someone who's capable of looking after themselves."

"Oh, you want another go?" he sneered.

"You eager to lose another knee?" I responded.

Sewell looked, and then dropped the freshman and hurried off in the other direction. I went over to the kid and helped him pick his books up. His declarations of gratitude continued until I could take no more. I told him to be off and I turned away. He followed for a few steps like a lost puppy. I ignored him and he eventually dropped back. He was gone by the time I got to Robinson's room,. The bell rang just as I entered the door.

"Take out a piece of paper and number it from one to twenty," he directed.

'Lefty' Robinson was older than dirt. I think he went to school with Moses or something like that. We called him Lefty because whenever he gave tests, talked, or just about any time he gestured, it was with his left hand. The thing is that he would point everywhere to illustrate his point with the third figure of his left hand.

"Number one," he began.

He eventually made it to number twenty, and we were done with the final. I hadn't realized it, yet, but I needn't have taken the test. He commented on that fact when I turned my paper in. He told me I was exempt with him and Mrs. Story, my English teacher, whose room is across the hall. I was beginning to wonder.

I turned to Patty Simcox who was seated to my right. Patty is a not too brilliant office aide who usually cheated to get passing grades. It was that or put out, and she wasn't about to put out for just anyone. She is this year's president of the virgin's club at school. She said she typed up the master for the ditto machine and my name was at the very top of the list. She didn't know what happened.

I did. The ditto master requires a half-inch space for the master to attach to the clamp on the drum. She typed on the top line of the master and it was under the clamp when the sheets were printed. I felt better about it, but was still pissed off for having to take Robinson's exam. Oh, I'd aced it, as usual, but it was the principle of the thing. Mrs. Story's exam was the other exam for today and I talked with her. She confirmed I was exempt, so I went home. I'd talk to Principal McGee about the exemption tomorrow. We had to show up for attendance period anyway. That was the official attendance for the day that was reported to the state for school funding. The exams were after that period.

Jackie had waited for me talking with Miss Vaughn in the library. She was a thirty something spinster lady. Nicer than nice, she was just plain looking. Jackie was waiting for me when I walked in, anyway. I greeted Miss Vaughn with the proper respect and snuck a quick kiss from Jackie. Miss Vaughn blushed scarlet and told me not to do that. I told her it was alright because we were married.

That shocked her more, and even her ears turned red. She looked kinda cute in full blush. She just needed to get out more, and maybe get a few lessons on how to apply the correct amount and type of makeup. There had to be some bookish nerd out there someplace for her. There's the new Ag teacher, oh what's his name. Mr. Jones, that's it. Thomas is his first name. He might be a good candidate. I'd have to work on it.

We said our goodbyes to Miss Vaughn and headed to the parking lot. I'd driven the DeLorean on a lark today. Driving it has given me an idea. The very next acquisition I wanted to get was another Eleanor, a 1967 Mustang fastback, modified according to the design by Carroll Shelby, the Shelby GT 500. It would give me a matched set, one for Jackie and one for me. The difference would be this one would be new, not used like the one I had. I'd heard a couple talking about a trip they took to Las Vegas while visiting the Princessipality. They told how they won big at the roulette table, betting on the double zero at 35 to 1 odds. They'd won hundreds of millions at the table, or something like that. I don't exactly remember, but I do remember their method.

I had a few ideas how to go about it. So I talked it over with Jackie and she thought it would be fun. Now we had to talk to Mom, and get her to agree. Jackie and I are eighteen, but the legal age for gambling in Nevada is twenty-one, like the game. So we needed to convince Mom to go along and have fun with us. We'd have to go to pre-1968 for another reason. That was the year they passed a law that kept anyone under age out of the casinos, period.

Home again, I escorted Jackie in and reset the alarm. Mom was in the kitchen, cooking. I came up behind her and slid my hands around her, massaging her abdomen as my hands slid across the silky fabric of her blouse. My hands came across the lacy fabric that made up her bra as I raised them. They were, of course, a couple of bumps in the road ... so to speak. She reached back with her hands to draw me closer. I kissed her neck. She let out a throaty moan and turned to face me. The next few minutes were spent in mutual spit swapping.

"What did I do to deserve that?" she asked.

"Oh, I just love you, Mom. Nothing special other than I love you," I replied.

"That's nice. Now go wash up for dinner. It will be ready in a few minutes," she said, and I could hear the smile in her voice.

The menu was pork chops, green beans, applesauce and garlic mashed potatoes. Jackie and I were back at the table in five minutes and we were hurrying. The odor emanating from the kitchen had me salivating like Pavlov's dog. We were both hungry, at any rate. Jackie and I took over the duties of cleaning up after dinner. I asked Mom to join us in the living room to discuss something after that. She was watching 'Bewitched' when we joined her. She clicked the TV off and sat waiting.

"We want to try an experiment, Mom. We want to take a time trip to Vegas and try out a few ideas, but we need you because the minimum gambling age is twenty-one. Please say you'll take us? Please?" I was begging.

Jackie joined in with me and we wore her down. Mom finally agreed to go with us. We packed three suitcases and went to the bank chest. We withdrew a quarter-million dollars in pre-1967 dollars, and packed it in a separate suitcase. Our clothing was nondescript, and would allow us to travel to 1967 without the added burden of improper clothing. I set the watch once we were ready, and we were off. Using the special settings of the wristwatch, we arrived in the twilight and we waited at the edge of the building by a door that went upstairs in the next building. It was good enough to finish the transfer. We entered the Sands Hotel and checked in. We got a suite with two bedrooms. Hah, as if we'd use the second room ... but we had to keep up appearances.

I told the ladies I needed to do some research, so they decided to go to the spa. It was a comp for us because we deposited the two hundred and fifty thousand in the casino's vault. I was looking forward to the fun that would happen next. A huge slot machine was in the front foyer of the casino. It cost one dollar to play and it was a progressive slot. The more uses it got, the better the payout. I noticed there was a sign on the machine, which touted the last payout. It gave the date and amount.

Quick research with the watch was in order. I went to the restroom and found it empty. I entered the stall on the end and used the watch to go to December 31^st. I went up to the front of the casino and checked the sign. We were in luck. I noted the date and jumped, but stayed in the twilight. I did a fast-forward and noted the time that the jackpot was won. Then I watched the replay. I discovered that there was a time lapse between winning, and the previous person, of six minutes. I needed to try the jackpot at twelve forty seven on June seventeenth.

I quickly returned to Mom and Jackie. I timed it so I'd only been gone a minute. They were still waiting for me to send them to the spa, but I nixed that. I wanted to go ahead to June 17^th instead. We sat in the front lounge and watched the machine. The Chinese gentleman put three dollar tokens into the slot and pulled the lever at twelve forty five, just as I had seen him do. I nudged Mom and she took the proffered machine tokens I had in my hand and started towards the machine. A pushy post-pubescent bleached blonde rushed up and tossed a token into the slot and pulled the handle just as she got there.

She got nowhere with it. She did one more pull with a single coin; no luck again. She stomped off in a huff. Mom took her position and I signaled her with three fingers. She put the three, dollar tokens in and pulled the lever. She wasn't watching the wheels she looked over at me. I then signaled with a two, and then a five. She played two tokens and came close, and then she played the last five tokens all at once. Seven came up in the first slot, then a second, followed by a third. Someone noticed what was happening and cried out. There suddenly was a crowd. The fourth and fifth sevens had rolled in. The crowd was screaming encouragements. Excitement was running high. The sixth seven settled in and the jackpot rolled up to $1.7 million. There was one more wheel to go.

The machine was slowing down. You could see the symbols instead of a blur on the wheel now. It now turned over slower and slower. There were only three spots to go. A diamond, crown, and then the final space came up.

SEVEN! The crowd roared. Bells and sirens sounded. People passing by the open doors streamed in to watch the hullabaloo. Dollar tokens trickled down the chute. The place to look was the electronic board at the top of the machine. Even I was surprised. I guess, because the blonde ran two coins through one at a time, the progressive routine took a fantastic jump. Instead of 1.35 million that was on the sign at Christmas, the total on the machine was now flashing a whopping $3,729,647.

Mom was clapping her hand and jumping up and down at the same time. The configuration of her elbows being close together was doing wonders with her natural assets. They were bouncing along with her. I'd say it caused more than one case of whiplash on some of the men in the crowd. Jackie and I wormed our way in and started mimicking her movements. All eyes (of the men at least) changed to Jackie as the gravity effect on her double Ds exaggerated the bounce.

Security and the floor supervisor made their way through the crowd with a big cardboard check. The supervisor asked Mom her name and he wrote her name and the amount on the check with a big magic marker. A cute little (as in very short, almost a Munchkin sized) photographer with an impressive ledge to rest her camera on had us pose with the management. We were told this was the largest payout of the progressive seven super slot ever. We smiled. Heck, we couldn't help it.

"Ma'am," the supervisor said, "We need to go to the cashier's cage to take care of the winnings, fill out the W-2G form and other paperwork. Here's one of the dollar tokens from the win. Why don't you clear the machine before we go in? They say that it's bad luck not to clear the win out."

Mom was game, but she put eleven of the silver dollar size tokens in the slot and pulled the handle. The crowd was dispersing and we were heading away when a loud murmur rose from the area of the machine. It got louder and we had to turn around. The manager hurried ahead of us and got to the machine just as the last wheel stopped. When we got there, the bells and sirens again assaulted our ears. Seven 7s in a row lined up across the face of the big slot machine. Looking up, I couldn't believe what I saw.

The machine somehow ignored the earlier payout and now registered $7,957,591. A photographer from the Vegas Times newspaper was snapping pictures and a reporter from KLVN-TV had showed up and was broadcasting a live report. There was no way the casino could renege on the wins. Shaking his head, he turned the pseudo-check around and wrote the words 'OUT OF ORDER' and placed the sign on the machine. He spoke into his microphone and the lights, bells, and sirens went out a moment later. They had slot machine mechanics in the back of it even before we went inside. (A check on the machine would show no tampering. The machine never paid out another jackpot and was retired three years later.)

We were escorted into the head cashier's office. Mom filled out form after form. Uncle Sam was there. The casino could only withhold 20% of the winnings according to law. Twenty percent of eleven million six hundred eighty seven thousand, two hundred thirty-eight dollars, is still almost two and a half million dollars. I told Mom I had another idea. I was going to repeat exactly what the pair at the Princessipality did. I accompanied Mom and Jackie to our room. I then slipped into the twilight and moved ahead to 7 PM the same day. I stayed in the twilight and I found a likely no limit roulette wheel. I studied it for about an hour. I wrote down number and time of day. Double zero hit eleven times during the play. I made note of the time each one hit and every play during that hour. There were a total of thirty-four spins during the hour.

I returned to current time with Jackie and Mom. I explained what we were going to do. We practiced playing on the en-suite table. Our first green tab (the double zero) would be a twelve after a seven. We talked about how we would be indecisive and move chips around early on. The final three zeros were a bit after seven forty, so we'd play cool until then. We were given the after tax proceeds of the slot on a prepaid American Express card. It was a new system they'd just started a couple of years ago. It was for the big winners and it was good PR for Am Ex.

We were at the table at seven sharp. We started soft, playing the numbers we knew would come up. I nudged Mom at seven ten by the clock. She placed the Amex card from the slots win down on double zero. The dealer gave a questioningly look. Mom looked at me and I told him all in. He swiped the card on his reader and his eyes grew big. He called the pit boss over and showed him the reader. He explained the bet, double zero, and the pit boss called it in on his walkie-talkie. Approval came through z moment later. The spin started exactly at seven twelve.

The crowd was silent for a moment and then went wild when the ball dropped into green. Not for themselves, but for Mom. The floor boss came over, and he and the pit boss totaled everything up. Our bet turned out to be eleven million, six hundred eighty seven thousand, two hundred, thirty eight dollars. At 35 – 1 odds, our winnings were a little over four hundred and nine million. The pit boss handed us another card totaling that amount. We still had the original eleven-mil card. We continued to play conservatively until seven forty. I reminded Mom of the strategy while we collect our winnings on the numbers. Our little card was now at a bit over ten million two hundred forty one thousand and change.

The number eleven came up twice. That was our cue to go for the kill. I told Mom to place the small card on double zero again. Enough time had passed that there was a whole new crowd around the table. They didn't know what was going to happen. I did. The pit boss scanned the card to verify the value. He nodded his approval and the wheel was spun. There was a hush around the table as our ten million was on the line. The ball dropped. A cheer went up. We were a winner. The boss re-scanned the large card, entering our winnings. We told the man at the wheel to bet the whole card again. (Remember it's at 409 mil.)

The ball spun, dropped, and we won. I told Mom to say 'let it ride'. The man at the wheel looked at the pit boss, who in turn looked at the floor boss. The floor boss called it in and received approval. He nodded and the wheel was spun. The little ball seemed to take forever before it dropped. Double zero. The crowd that had gathered went wild. The bet was added to the card. It now stood at a bit over twelve billion dollars.

"Folks, we're going to stop for a minute while we have the wheel inspected. If you'll wait right there..." I knew what he was thinking and what they would be looking for. It doesn't take long to remove a wheel from the table and they checked above and below the table and they checked the wheel. Nothing untoward was found, so they put the wheel back together.

I had them verify the amount on the card. $12,545,231,125.

"Let it ride, Mom," I said aloud.

"Let it ride," she said to the man behind the wheel.

The bet was sent up the chain of command one more time, and it came back with a codicil. It would be accepted this time but the game would close if it won. I nudged Mom and she agreed to the condition. The bet was placed, as were many others. I kinda felt sorry for the others who were betting on us. The wheel spun and the ball was sent around the wheel. It dropped and there was a big groan. It fell into the 25 slot next to the double zero.

I asked that the loss be verified and that we receive confirmation of it. This was something I'd learned while talking to the other gamblers. If you can verify a loss, it reduces your taxes. We accepted their warrant. It had been signed by the head cashier and notarized for our convenience.

We left the table and headed up to our room. We had the two small cards at three hundred twenty eight million each. That would hold us for a while. We went to the cashier's cage and asked to withdraw ten thousand from one of the cards. We had the cash in hand five minutes later. I told Mom and Jackie to follow me. We exited the Sands and I had the doorman signal the next cabbie for us. We all climbed in and I told him to take us to the Ford place.

We walked into the dealership, and son of a gun if Eleanor wasn't sitting right there. It was painted in special metal flake blue with a blue interior. Now the list price was listed at $6,359.95 plus dealer prep of $250. The special paint brought the price up an additional $2,000. I asked for the owner. David Martin shook hands with us. I told him I wanted the Shelby. He got a big grin on his face. I then told him I had cash. (Bigger grin) Then I told him I wanted to take delivery right now, and I'd take the dealer paperwork to the city clerk's office for title. Two garage monkeys pushed the car out of the showroom through the huge doorway placed in the glass window just for showroom use ten minutes later.

Temporary dealer plates had been placed on the car. I helped Jackie get in the back seat and Mom sat in the front passenger seat. I took my place behind the wheel and we were off. I drove around Vegas for a while, and then drove to the cold storage place I'd found in our time. It had only opened last year, but would be in business for the next sixty years, so I had no worries about it being there. I told the man my needs and he quoted a price. I told him I wanted storage until 2015 and his eyes lit up. He did a quick calculation and quoted me a price. I paid from the remainder of the cash.

There wasn't much left, but I had enough. I asked if he knew someone good at storage prep for a car. He told me his brother did that sort of thing and he did a great job. He offered other names in reference, but I took him at his word. I drove Eleanor in and shut her down. The brother would do his magic tomorrow and the car would be ready for slumber the day after. We agreed on the price and I told them to explain to the brother that it would be in storage for a long time.

Satisfied with the deal, we headed home. A click of the watch and we were back where we started. I would have to make arrangements to get the car from storage, so the first thing I did was call the place. A young lady answered. I asked about storage locker number twenty-one. She was surprised because she knew the rent was paid until 2015 and that someone named Eugene Appleby would contact them about getting it out. I told her I was that Eugene, and I provided the code needed to access the car. I told her the contents of the locker and commissioned her to get the best auto mechanic in Las Vegas to get the car running.